A Family Found
by IrenaAdler
Summary: Colby's 5yearold daughter comes into his life. The daughter, Nena, lives with her mom elsewhere. Posting here is an experiment since Charlie and Colby are in an established relationship. Complete.
1. Chapter 1 Plans made

_A Family Found_ _Part 1 – Plans made_

When Colby heard Jenny's voice on his answering machine, his heart stuttered. The only reason Jenny ever called was to make arrangements to drop Nena off for her visits -- and it wasn't time for one of those -- or to tell him that Nena was badly sick or hurt.

The first words of the message calmed his fears but the next words made his heart flip-flop again. "Nena's okay," Jenny's voice said, "We're moving to LA. I'm sick of snow, I'm sick of Michigan. I know you want to see Nena more often so this will be good. You can help us with money for getting a nice apartment, right? See you next Tuesday. I'll drop Nena off with you while I find us a place and get things set up. You can take care of her for a few days, right? See you."

Colby sat down hard on his couch and stared at the machine. His little girl … She was going to be close by? He could see her regularly? He felt both excited and terrified. It was one thing to want to be more involved in her life and another to have it handed to him out of the blue.

He sat there for a moment, stunned into immobility, then his brain started working again. Tuesday? Today was Sunday already so that was in just two days. How was he going to find a place to go with Nena in that short a period of time? Probably just a hotel, maybe one with a pool. Nena would like that. His one-bedroom apartment was too small and too boring for an active five-year-old. He'd have to take some time off of work, Don wasn't gonna be thrilled about that. Oh well, nothing came between him and the time he got with Nena … wait, he was going to see her a lot now.

So much to do, so much to do … Instead, he turned around, headed out the door, and went to find Charlie.

* * *

Charlie looked up when Colby arrived at his office and immediately knew something was up. Charlie was on campus on a Sunday because it was usually quiet and he could get some work done.

"New case?" Charlie asked, but somehow that didn't seem right. Colby didn't get this … anxious about cases.

"Nena," Colby blurted, "Jenny is moving to LA! Nena is gonna be right in town!"

"That's great!" Charlie said, then reconsidered, looking at Colby. "That is great, isn't it? You said you wanted to see her more often."

"It is great, it is," Colby said.

"But?" Charlie asked.

"But it's just so sudden, and Jenny and I are going to have to work out a whole new system and seeing Nena more means seeing Jenny more and I'm not really looking forward to that." Colby flopped down in a chair. "And what am I going to tell Jenny … what am I going to tell _Nena_ about us?"

"You and I?" Charlie said in surprise.

"What's she going to think? She was raised in an extremely conservative place and maybe she'll think it's weird or bad or …"

"Or maybe she won't care," Charlie said gently.

"But what if she does?"

Charlie set down his chalk and came over to where Colby sat. He crouched down in front of Colby and put his hands on Colby's knees. "'Don't borrow trouble', my dad always says. Besides, if she's such a smart kid as you say, she'll see that her daddy is happy and not care about the gender of the person that makes him happy."

Smiling softly, Colby touched Charlie's cheek. "You do make me happy."

Charlie rubbed his face against Colby's hand. "So we'll just introduce me as your boyfriend, no explanations or excuses, and see how it goes."

"Okay," Colby said, then groaned. "I've got to find a hotel that has a fridge and maybe a kitchenette so we don't eat out all the time but don't have to go back to my place, and a pool and rent a car seat and maybe a video game player and …" Colby put his head in his hands.

"Cole …" Charlie started then paused for a moment, wanting to make sure that this wasn't just an impulsive offer. No, he really meant it. "Why doesn't Nena stay at my house? We've got a nice guest bedroom and … you can stay too."

Colby's head shot up. "Are you serious?"

"Of course," Charlie said, a tad huffily.

"Right, okay, sorry," Colby said. "But do you know what you're getting into? Nena's a good girl but she can get pretty noisy and crazy."

"It'll just be for a few days," Charlie said. "I can always hide in the garage or come to my office."

Colby frowned thoughtfully.

"Sorry, I don't have a pool. The Koi pond is pretty deep though."

Colby laughed and pulled Charlie up to sit in his lap. "I accept your generous offer. But I still have tons of stuff to do to get ready. And we need to talk to your dad to make sure it's okay with him, 'cause he lives there too."

Charlie smiled down at Colby. "Maybe a little stress relief first?"

Colby looked like he was going to object then he returned Charlie's smile. "Right here, in your office?"

"Yeah," Charlie said warmly. "It's Sunday." He shifted to straddle Colby's legs and leaned down to kiss him. Colby's hands slid under Charlie's shirt and they were distracted for a while.

* * *

"Dad?" Charlie called, coming through the front door. "You around?"

"Yes, Charlie," Alan said from the nearby couch. "No need to yell."

"Oh, hi," Charlie said and came inside, Colby on his heels. Charlie clenched his hands together nervously. Why was he nervous? This was his house. It was just that his dad could be weird about kids …

"Umm, Dad, a member of Colby's family is gonna be in town Tuesday and he just found out. Colby's got a little place and we have a spare bedroom so I told Colby that we could put her up for a few days and him too while she's here. That okay?"

"Sure," Alan said easily. "A cousin?"

Charlie looked at Colby. Colby flushed and cleared his throat. Charlie knew he was one of the few people in the world that knew about Nena. Now Colby was going to have to start telling everyone.

"My daughter, actually," Colby said uncomfortably.

Alan's eyebrows shot up. "Your daughter? You have a daughter?"

"Yeah, Nena," Colby said, pulling out his wallet and removing a rumpled picture from the hidden pocket. It was of Nena holding a fishing rod twice as tall as she was. He handed the picture to Alan. "That picture is almost a year old. She's almost five now."

Alan took the picture, smiling. "She's adorable."

"She's a good girl," Colby said quickly. "She won't give you any trouble."

Alan frowned. "Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but why is she coming here? Something happen?"

"Oh," Colby waved his hand in irritation. "It's her mother, Jenny. She wouldn't marry me, by the way. She decided to move to LA and just now told me about it."

"Move from where?"

"Michigan." Colby went and sat heavily in a chair. "I usually only get to see Nena twice a year and now I'm going to see her a lot."

Alan eyed him. "That's a good thing, right?"

"Yeah, it's just …" Colby trailed off, looking at his hands.

Charlie said quietly. "Colby is worried that Nena will think it's strange about me and him."

Alan frowned thoughtfully. "You think that she will?"

"I know Jenny," Colby said bitterly. "She loves to run me down whenever she can and she's gonna have fun with this. Seems to think that if Nena loves me then she loves Jenny less."

"Ah," Alan said, nodding sadly. "I'm familiar with the type." He smiled and handed the picture back to Colby. "But let's not worry about that unless it happens. Meanwhile, we need to get the house ready for a visitor!"

"It should just be a few days. Normally I rent a cabin or something but—"

"Not a problem," Alan said, standing and rubbing his hands together. "It'll be fun."

"Uh-oh," Charlie said with an uncomfortable laugh. "She's not your grandkid, dad."

"Aw, an old man can have some fun, can't he?"

Charlie gave Colby an apologetic shrug. "He's always bugging me about grandchildren."

"Well, umm," Colby said, obviously taken aback. "Nena and I are probably gonna do some stuff but I do have to work so …"

"Great!" Alan said, looking around for something to write on. "What does she like to eat?"


	2. Chapter 2 Visitor greeted

**Part 2 – Visitor greeted**

Colby took Tuesday off and paced around his apartment all morning. In her usual annoying way, Jenny hadn't said when she was arriving Tuesday and it could be any time that day or even Wednesday if she decided to stop someplace in Nevada for some slots.

Colby's apartment was as clean as it had ever been, but he still wiped the table and lined up the pictures on his mantle. He tried to watch some TV, but ended up just wandering around his apartment. He was usually good at waiting, a necessary skill in the army, but something about Nena coming made him a bundle of nervous energy.

Colby was about to break down and make himself some lunch when his phone rang. The Caller ID said it was Jenny, and Colby picked it up before it finished the first ring.

"Jenny?" Colby said.

"I'm outside," Jenny said without preamble and hung up.

Barely remembering to grab his house keys, Colby slid on some shoes and hurried out to the parking lot.

Pulled into a handicap space in his parking lot was a dark green SUV, and getting out of the SUV was the most adorable little girl in the world.

"Nena-bear!" he called.

"Daddy!" Nena squealed and ran toward him.

He picked her up and swung her around. She laughed and he laughed and then he set her down on the ground, got on his knees and gave her a tight hug. He moved back and looked at her. It had been less than six months since he'd seen her but she looked so much bigger than he remembered. Her dark blonde hair was in two long pigtails down her back, her green eyes sparkling. She was wearing a pink t-shirt with a big blue flower on it and jeans. Colby didn't know they even made jeans for four year olds – no, she was almost five.

After a moment, Colby realized that Jenny was still sitting in her car. She looked out the window and gave him a little wave. The fair-headed, attractive mother of his child looked more like she had when they'd met – her cheeks flushed, a smile on her lips. She seemed happy and excited. Moving to LA must be something she'd wanted to do for a while. Colby picked up Nena and walked over to the car.

"Hey, Jenny," Colby said. "You look good."

"Thanks," Jenny grinned. "Nena's bags are in the back seat."

Colby opened the back door and got out a little suitcase and a backpack.

"I'll see you in a few days," Jenny said cheerfully then her face went serious. "Be a good girl, Nena. Be my good strong girl, okay?"

"'Kay, Mommy."

Jenny looked at Nena for a long moment then gave a firm nod. "Bye, sweetie."

"Bye," Nena waved and Jenny pulled out of the parking space and drove away.

Colby smiled at Nena. "It's just you and me for a few days, Nena-bear. Did you get lunch?"

"No," Nena said. "Can we have funny nooduhs?"

"Maybe funny noodles later," Colby laughed. "But for right now, we'll just stop by In-N-Out."

"String fries!" Nena clapped.

"Nena, you know how we normally have a special place when you visit? Like the cabin near the ocean? My apartment is too small for both of us, but I thought we'd try something different this time, since I didn't have a lot of time to make other plans."

"Camping?" Nena asked hopefully.

"Not this time," Colby said. "You're going to stay at my good friend Charlie's house. He's really nice and has a big house with lots of extra rooms."

Nena frowned. "Not wif you?"

"Oh, sure, of course, I'm staying there too," Colby said. _Just don't know where I'm sleeping yet._ "Wouldn't want to miss any time with you!"

"'Kay," Nena said. "I'm hungry."

Colby took the hint and bundled Nena and her stuff into his car. He had trouble getting the borrowed car seat to work, but eventually figured it out. He got into the car himself and waved at Nena in the rear-view mirror. He was really looking forward to the next few days. _Unless she decides she doesn't like Charlie …_ He pulled out onto the highway and headed for the restaurant.

* * *

Charlie was full of nervous energy that morning too. What if Colby's little girl didn't like him? He'd made up the guest room carefully, using flowered sheets and blankets. He'd dug out a few flowered throw pillows from a box in the basement. Then he'd decided that they would need to be washed first but how do you wash a pillow? Alan had helped him with that dilemma.

For his part, Alan seemed just as excited, despite everything Charlie could do to discourage him thinking about Nena as a potential grandchild. Charlie's fridge was now bulging with enough pop, Jell-O, and carrot sticks to last a month. His pantry looked like it belonged to a daycare center with granola bars, chips, cookies, and some gummy fruit things that Charlie was pretty sure had no relationship to actual fruit.

Colby called Charlie from In-N-Out to tell him that they'd be there in a few minutes. Charlie was glad that his father had been convinced to go golfing, so that Nena and Charlie could meet without Alan hovering. Charlie heard a car pull into the driveway and he raced to the door. He stepped out onto the front step and watched Colby's car come to a stop. His heart was pounding.

Colby opened his door and gave Charlie a short wave. Colby was smiling widely and he had ketchup on his shirt. He opened the door to the back seat and leaned in. After a moment, he re-emerged, holding a blonde-haired, laughing little girl. He set her down and got out a flowered suitcase and a brown, fuzzy backpack.

Charlie had seen pictures but, in person, Nena was even cuter. _No surprise really, not with Colby for a father. Mighty good genes._

Nena looked around with interest. Her eyes fastened on Charlie and Charlie discovered that intensity of gaze could also be hereditary. Colby reached down and took her hand. They came up the front walk and Charlie forced himself to hold his ground.

"Hey, Charlie," Colby said, and only Charlie would notice the sudden tension in his face, "This is my Nena."

"Hello, Nena," Charlie said nervously. "I'm Charlie. I'm your Daddy's boyfriend."

Nena frowned, looking at Charlie. "Daddies don't haf boyfriends. Daddies haf wifes."

Charlie's smile froze and Colby stiffened.

Nena's face screwed up in thought for a moment. Charlie was about to say something but Colby held up his hand to wait.

Abruptly, she smiled and said with certainty, "You're Daddy's boywife!"

"Boywife?" Charlie repeated in astonishment.

Colby laughed and gave Nena's hand a squeeze. "You're so smart, Nena-bear," he said. "Now, say 'hi' to Charlie."

Charlie held out his hand for a handshake, but instead, Nena came over and hugged his legs. "Hi, Charlie."

She pulled back and looked up over at Colby, still clutching Charlie's pant leg. "Daddy, you love Charlie?"

Colby nodded firmly. "Yes, Nena, I do."

Nena looked up at Charlie. "You love Daddy?"

Charlie flushed and said, "Yes."

"Okay, I love you too," Nena said. "Where's my bedroom?"

Charlie blinked at her, completely thrown.

Colby saved him. "It's upstairs, honey. Let me show you."

Freeing himself from Nena's grip, Charlie stepped out of the way. Nena walked confidently into the house, Colby following.

Colby looked positively giddy. He leaned over, kissed Charlie quickly, and whispered, "Good start."

Charlie nodded and watched Nena go up the stairs, her eyes taking in everything. Colby carried her bags and directed her to turn to the right at the top of the stairs.

Staring after them, Charlie's jaw hung open. He felt like his home had just gotten hit by lightning, the air fairly crackling with energy. After a moment, Charlie realized that he was grinning too. _This is gonna be fun._


	3. Chapter 3 Energy burned

**Part 3 – Energy burned**

Charlie followed the ball of lightning upstairs. She and Colby were in the guest bedroom, which had been made over, as well as Charlie could manage, into a little girl's room.

"Hello, Rocko," Colby was saying to a stuffed orange dinosaur. "How have you been?"

Nena giggled and took Rocko from Colby and set him on the bed.

"We'll put your clothes in this drawer here." Colby pulled open a drawer that Charlie had cleared out earlier.

"You need anything?" Charlie asked.

"Not at the moment," Colby said.

Charlie nodded and stood there awkwardly for a moment as Colby and Nena chatted and unpacked her suitcase. Charlie finally turned and went back downstairs.

Sitting on the couch, Charlie picked up a magazine. He heard Colby and Nena moving around upstairs.

After a few moments, Nena came clattering down the stairs, Colby behind her.

"We're gonna go down to the park," Colby said with a smile. "Burn off some energy since she was sitting in a car all morning."

"Okay," Charlie said and set down his magazine in preparation for getting up.

Colby nodded and took Nena's hand. "See you in a while," he said, then they walked out the door.

Charlie stared at the door for a long moment, feeling abandoned. He'd hoped to spend some time with Colby today too. Sighing, he stood up. Colby had said that nothing came between him and his time with Nena, and Charlie was just going to have to live with it. It would only be a few days, anyway. He wandered out to the garage to get some work done.

* * *

It seemed just five minutes later, though the tiredness in Charlie's shoulders told him it had been much longer, when Nena came bursting into the garage.

"Charlie!" the little girl called. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes shining. "Look what I found!"

Charlie turned from his chalkboard, blinking. Nena held up her cupped hands. Inside was a tiny frog, colored like a granite stone.

"Oh, a California Treefrog," Charlie said in surprise.

"I told her to leave it there," Colby said behind Nena, "But she wanted to show it to you."

"For you," Nena said and held up her hands.

Charlie smiled at her earnest face. "Thank you. You know what? I bet that frog would like to visit our Koi pond, then later we can take him back home, okay?"

"Pond?" Nena asked.

"Yeah," Charlie said, setting down his chalk and rubbing the numbers from his eyes. He led the way to the backyard. Nena spotted the pond and raced ahead. Colby put his hand on Charlie's shoulder.

"Hey," Colby said quietly. "We burned off a lot of energy so she shouldn't be too crazy this afternoon. I know you wanted to get some work done."

Charlie looked at him, realizing that Colby had taken Nena to the park so that she wouldn't bother Charlie. It hadn't been because Colby was too caught up in Nena that he'd forgotten about Charlie.

Nena knelt at the edge of the pond and released the frog. The frog slid into the water with a plop. Nena stayed kneeling and watched it go.

Charlie crouched down next to her. "Did you know that in the dark, frogs can detect bugs on the surface of the water and tell if they are bugs they like to eat by the ripples?"

Nena looked up at him, her face alight with interest. "Frogs hear water?"

"Yeah," Charlie smiled. "I guess so."

Nena turned back to find her frog, but it was now camouflaged against the rocks. She didn't seem to mind, rather stared at the brightly colored Koi swimming about.

"Daddy have Nena's rod?" Nena asked.

Colby laughed. "No, I don't have your fishing rod. Besides, Koi aren't very good to eat. They're just pretty to look at."

"Oh," Nena said with disappointment.

"We'll go fishing some other time," Colby reassured her.

"'Kay," Nena said.

"Are you two thirsty?" Charlie asked. "I could squeeze some lemonade."

"Sounds wonderful," Colby said. "Chasing after this little dynamo is thirsty work."

"Di-nuhmo?" Nena asked. She stood up and took Colby's hand.

"It means a little girl who spent way too much time in the car for the last three days."

"Yeah," Nena groaned in agreement. "Californeeuh's too far 'way."

"Not anymore," Colby said.

Nena nodded and took Charlie's hand.

Holding hands, the three of them walked toward the back patio. Alan was standing there, smiling. He opened the sliding door as they approached. "Hi," he called.

"Hey," Charlie said, letting go of Nena's hand self-consciously. "D-- Alan, meet Nena. Nena, meet Alan."

"Hi," Alan said, and held out his hand. Nena shook it, suddenly shy.

"Alan is my Daddy," Charlie said and Alan nodded.

Nena looked perplexed. "But Daddies don't have Daddies," she said with a familiar certainty.

Charlie waited in anticipation to see what Nena would come up with. He doubted it could top 'boywife.'

"Daddies have Grannpas," Nena said.

Alan lit up like a Christmas tree and Colby flushed. Charlie groaned and put his head in his hands. His father was going to be unstoppable now.

"Then maybe you could call me 'Grandpa Alan,'" Alan said with undisguised delight.

"'Kay," Nena said, then tried it out. "Grannpa Alan."

Alan beamed. Charlie and Colby exchanged looks. Charlie grimaced an apology and Colby gave a resigned half-shrug.

"Daddy, I'm thirsty," Nena reminded him, unaware of what she'd done.

"Oh, right," Colby said. "We were going to make lemonade." He and Nena went into the kitchen.

"Dad …" Charlie said, though he knew it was too late. "She probably calls every man with grey hair Grandpa."

"I know, I know," Alan said, waving his hand. Charlie wasn't convinced.

Charlie went into the kitchen where Colby was already slicing open some lemons. "These lemons come from Mrs. Singh next door."

Nena eyed Colby, obviously doubting that lemons could come from anywhere than a grocery store.

"We'll go over later and ask her if we can pick some more," Colby said. "She has an orange tree and a lime tree too."

Nena gave him a look that plainly said that was taking the joke too far.

Charlie smiled and got out the juicer.

Alan came into the kitchen and Charlie remembered the other task he'd given his father to keep him out of the way for this morning.

"Dad, did you get a movie?"

"Oh yeah," Alan said, and held up a bag overflowing with DVDs. There were at least fifteen movies in it.

Charlie laughed. "We only needed one."

Alan shrugged sheepishly. "I didn't know which one she'd want so I covered my bases."

Charlie shook his head and reached for a lemon half to juice. His stomach growled and he looked at the clock, realizing it was later than he thought. That often happened when he was working.

"We should start thinking about dinner," Charlie said uncertainly to Colby, not really sure how to work things with Nena here.

"Nena, what do you want for dinner?" Colby asked.

"Funny nooduhs!" she declared.

Colby turned to Alan. "You don't happen to have those clear noodles that they use in Thai food, do you?"

"Umm, no, just regular spaghetti," Alan said, then added quickly. "But I could go to the store."

"No, no," Colby said. "We'll go out for Thai some other time." Colby turned back to Nena. "What about spaghetti?"

Nena thought for a moment then said, "'Kay."

"Coming right up," Alan grinned and reached for a pot.

Colby and Charlie exchanged a wry smile at Alan's eagerness and worked together to finish the lemonade.


	4. Chapter 4 Message received

**Part 4 – Message received**

Nena was fading before the credits rolled on 'Monsters, Inc.' With only a minor fuss, Colby got her upstairs to her bedroom. He found her toothbrush and sent her to the bathroom.

Charlie had come up after them and stood in the doorway of his own bedroom. Colby cleared his throat, and walked over to Charlie.

"Um, Charlie?" Colby asked quietly. "Where do you want me to sleep?"

Charlie looked surprised then wary. "You don't want to sleep with me?"

"I wasn't gonna assume," Colby said. "And you have just a single bed. It'll be a squeeze."

"I don't mind," Charlie said stoutly.

"Think your dad will?"

"I think he assumed you'd sleep with me." Charlie looked embarrassed. "Maybe because I told him that you would."

Colby smiled. "That would be a good reason to assume something."

Charlie put his hand on Colby's arm and looked up into his face. "I'm looking forward to sleeping with you."

"Me too," Colby said, squeezing Charlie's hand. "Though it is gonna be tight in your bed."

"We'll manage," Charlie smiled.

A voice called from the bathroom, "Daddy?"

Colby lifted Charlie's hand to his lips for a quick kiss and went to see what Nena needed.

* * *

When Nena was convinced that she could use toothpaste other than her usual, which her mom had forgot to pack, Colby checked out the guest bedroom one more time, examining it for dangers or flaws.

Nena came in, wiping her mouth.

"Do you want a nightlight?" he asked.

"Uh-huh," Nena nodded.

"Here are your jammies," Colby said, pulling out a set of light-blue pajamas with yellow sun and stars. A white envelope fell out.

They both stared at it, then Nena picked it up and handed it to Colby with a worried look.

Colby frowned and took it. On the envelope was his name in Jenny's handwriting. He quickly opened it.

_Colby—_

_I won't be coming back in a few days. I'm going to take a nice long vacation up and down the coast and probably to Mexico. I'll be back in a month or so. I'll give you a call when I get back in town. I know you can find me but … don't. I want my first real vacation in 5 years. This key is to a storage locker that has all of Nena's stuff in it. Get out what you need and then we'll move the rest into a new place when I get back. I think it's time too for you to start shouldering more of the load of Nena's care. I got her through the yucky diaper years and the annoying toddler years so you should be grateful. I'm thinking we trade off weeks – you have her one week and me the next. That way I can have some sort of life again._

_-Jenny_

Colby sat down with a thud on the bed. A _month_ … "or so". Then having her every other week. _Wow._ That would be like being a real dad.

"Whaz wrong, Daddy?" Nena said in a small voice.

Colby took a deep breath and forced a smile. "C'mere," he said and held out his arm. Nena sat on the bed next to him. He gave her a tight hug. "It's just a note from your mom saying that she's gonna leave you with me for more than just a few days. She's gonna go have a vacation in Mexico and wants you to be happy with me for a few weeks."

Nena's lips trembled. "Mommy's not coming back?"

"She is, she is," Colby hastened to reassure her. "Just not for a little longer than we thought." He'd save the issue of the every-other-week custody for later. "I'm not mad, I was just surprised."

"You look mad," Nena said.

Colby hugged her again. "I just wish your mom had told me in person that she was gonna be gone for longer, instead of telling me later in a note. I'm excited, though! Tomorrow we'll need to go get some more of your stuff from the storage place."

"Where's that?"

"Did your mommy pack up boxes before you came?"

"I helped!"

"I'm sure you were a big help," Colby said. "We'll get some more clothes for you, and maybe some things you'd like to make this a real bedroom for you."

Nena leaned closer and whispered, "Is Charlie gonna be mad when I don't leave?"

"No, no," Colby said, but he wasn't too sure.

Nena frowned, perhaps hearing his lack of conviction.

"Why don't you get in your jammies and I'll go talk with Charlie? I'll be in soon to read you a story."

"'Kay," Nena said, but she still looked worried.

_Damn Jenny for not talking to me about this…_ Colby went down the stairs to where Charlie was watching TV.

"Hey," Colby said.

"Do you need more sheets or pillows or something?" Charlie asked.

"No, we're good." Colby held out the note. "But I found this tucked in her pajamas."

Charlie took the note and read it carefully. "Wow," he said at last. "Every other week."

"Yeah," Colby grimaced. "Quite the news to drop on me with a note. Plus a month or two until she gets back at all."

Charlie nodded. "You're welcome to stay here until she does, I mean, if you want to."

"That's a bit much to ask," Colby said uncomfortably. When it had been just a few days, it was okay, but a month at Charlie's house felt like too much of an imposition. Charlie opened his mouth to say more, but Colby interrupted him. "Why don't we try staying here for a few days and see how it works out? We can discuss it again later."

Charlie looked like he wanted to object, but he nodded. Colby smiled. Charlie had no idea what it was going to be like to have a kid around.

"Do you happen to have a nightlight I could use?" Colby asked.

* * *

A little while later, Charlie emerged from the basement, cobwebbed but triumphant, and holding a lighthouse nightlight. It had been his when he was a kid and he remembered the conversations he'd had with his dad about how far the light could be seen from a lighthouse. It had been the first time he'd learned about the curvature of the earth.

Charlie cleaned up both himself and the dusty lighthouse, then took it upstairs to the guest room. As he approached the room, he heard Colby reading 'Stuart Little' to Nena. Charlie paused and grinned. Colby was doing different voices and wasn't very good at it, but he was trying, and that's all that Nena seemed to care about. Charlie went into the bedroom. Colby looked up at him and flushed a little, but continued to read the dialogue with a high Mom's voice. Nena's eyelids were already drooping. Charlie waited quietly while Colby finished the chapter.

When Colby put a bookmark in his book and shut it, Charlie held up the nightlight. "This was mine when I was a kid."

Colby gave him a warm smile and said, "It's not hard to picture you needing a nightlight."

"I won't need one any more," Charlie said shyly. "Now that you're here."

Colby's smile widened and he said, "Nope."

Leaning down, Colby pulled Nena's covers up and kissed her on the forehead. Nena's eyes slid closed and Colby tucked Rocko, her orange dinosaur, in with her. Colby smoothed down Nena's dark blonde hair and whispered, "Good night, sweetie. I'll be right next door if you need me."

Charlie watched Colby. All day long he'd been impressed with Colby's fathering skills. He seemed a natural at it – never speaking down to Nena but still making her understand, dealing gently but efficiently with a mild temper tantrum at the dinner table, spending time with her but not hovering.

Colby held out his hand and Charlie handed him the nightlight. He plugged it into the wall, near the bed, then he and Charlie crept out of the bedroom. Nena's breathing was already deep and even.


	5. Chapter 5 Time spent

**Part 5 – Time spent**

Charlie woke the next morning alone, but next to a warm spot on the bed that told him Colby had just left. Colby was right about the bed, it had been a squeeze, but they'd got themselves arranged, Charlie's back to Colby's front, and luckily neither of them were restless sleepers. In fact, Charlie felt very rested this morning.

Charlie rolled out of bed and found his bathrobe. Scratching his scalp, he wandered downstairs. He headed toward the kitchen, toward the smell of coffee.

He stopped in the doorway of the kitchen and took in the picture of two dark blond heads bent over bowls of cereal, matching groggy expressions on their similar faces. Nena swung her legs and twirled a pigtail as she ate. Colby's eyes were unfocused, a forgotten newspaper in his hand as he gazed into the middle distance.

"Good morning," Charlie said.

Colby looked up and smiled. Nena said something indistinct around a mouthful of cereal.

"Good morning," Colby said. "Sleep well?"

Charlie smiled shyly at him. "You'd know if I didn't."

"That's right," Colby said with a bigger smile.

Charlie crossed the kitchen to get his own bowl. As he pulled out a chair, he realized that Colby was still dressed in the T-shirt and shorts he'd slept in.

"Don't you have to go into work today?" Charlie asked

"Nope, I've got the rest of the week off," Colby said.

"Wow, how'd you swing that?" Charlie sat down and reached for the granola box.

"I think your tough, macho brother has a soft spot for kids," Colby grinned.

Charlie nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe so."

"Charlie's brother want his bed?" Nena asked suddenly, with a worried expression.

"Huh?" Colby said, then, "Oh, no, Charlie's brother doesn't live here any more."

"Oh," Nena said sadly, "Duvorced."

Charlie chuckled, "No, not divorced. He's all grown up and lives with his own …" he blushed and couldn't say it.

"Boywife," Colby filled in with a smirk.

"Yeah, that," Charlie said and paid close attention to pouring himself milk to hide his embarrassment. He'd just gotten used to the word, 'boyfriend.'

Colby looked at Nena. "Where did you hear that word, boywife?"

"Nobody," she mumbled in response, obviously believing that she was in trouble for it.

"It's okay, sweetie," Colby said quickly. "It's a good word, I just hadn't heard it before. Did Daddies have boywives in Michigan?"

"No," Nena giggled, "Silly Daddy."

Colby met Charlie's eyes and shrugged. Whether Nena had invented the word or heard it somewhere, it didn't appear that she minded her father having one. _A big hurdle cleared._

"Well," Charlie said with a sigh, digging into his cereal. "I have two classes to teach today, plus office hours and tons of paperwork."

"Charlie hazto go to school?" Nena asked.

"Charlie is a teacher," Colby explained.

"Oh," Nena said and looked at Charlie with surprise. Apparently in his bathrobe and messy hair he didn't look like a teacher. "I go to school this year, Momma said." She turned to Colby. "Can Charlie be my teacher?"

"Charlie teaches school for grownups. When you're grown up, you can have him as a teacher."

"Like nine years old?" Nena asked.

Colby smiled and said, "Nine or a little older."

"Oh." Nena frowned. "But we're gonna go to the park, you promised. We have to take Mr. Frogtree back."

"You and I will go to the park, don't worry."

"But Charlie wiw miss the park!"

Charlie smiled at her, with her wide eyes and concern, and had the overwhelming urge to skip his classes and spend the day with her. He shook himself, surprised. _Must be the green eyes. _

"Yes," Colby said. "Charlie will miss the park, but he can go with us another day."

"Another day," Charlie agreed.

"I know you have classes and stuff, but afterwards, you could just bring your paperwork home," Colby suggested.

_Home. Home to Colby._ _Wow, that sounds nice._ Charlie nodded and focused on finishing his breakfast.

* * *

The next three days were a whirl of activity. Colby and Nena went to the storage locker and got clothes and toys. Colby, Nena, and Alan went to the store and got more clothes and toys. Colby made lists of things he needed to worry about, like kindergarten and health insurance, and completely stressed himself out. Alan had to give him a pep talk, and Charlie and Nena had to give him many extra kisses.

The four of them went to the zoo together on Thursday, and somehow Nena had enough excitement to share with all of them. Alan bought her a toy fox and too much ice cream. Nena and Charlie debated how many spots a leopard had. Colby tried to explain why the zoo was lacking dinosaurs. Nena bounced between them, dragging one then another to whatever the next nifty thing was. She held Colby's hand most of all, which was only right.

When Charlie went to work again on Friday, Colby and Nena walked down to the park and played on the jungle gym. Charlie came to the park to meet them and got entranced all over again by the simple mathematics of joy on a swing.

In between, there were games and movies and other entertainments. Nena loved wrestling with Colby, pouncing on him at unexpected moments. Charlie was impressed with Colby's ability to sometimes let Nena win the wrestling bouts.

Nena had the occasional stubborn flare, like when she insisted loudly that Rocko be allowed to eat at the dinner table, or when she was supposed to turn off the TV and go take a bath. She had one complete screaming and sobbing breakdown, when she finally realized that her mother wasn't coming back anytime soon.

There were quiet times, too. Nena proudly demonstrated her ability to read a simple picture book. Colby decided that maybe he'd been too harsh in his judgment of Jenny's parenting skills. Nena spent time with Charlie and Alan as well. She easily beat Charlie at video game racing and showed him her favorite website, Sesame Street. Alan and Nena made cookies and a complete mess in the kitchen.

Charlie looked forward every day to going home to Colby. He loved having Colby around without having to formally set something up. He loved sleeping and waking with Colby. He loved doing the morning bathroom-sharing dance and being able to disappear to the garage, knowing that Colby would still be at the house when he resurfaced. They'd even gotten a chance to mess around when Alan took Nena to a movie. Charlie surreptitiously measured his bedroom to see how big a bed would fit in it.

Nena was fun to have around too. She had such a new and interesting way of looking at the world. She insisted that dinosaurs were birds that had forgotten how to fly and that the front walk was paved with diamonds and dragon teeth. Charlie found himself quizzing her on various abstract concepts just to see what she'd come up with. She defined "love" as "everybody happy" and "time" as "Not now, Nena."

To Charlie, "Home" had always meant his father, but in a shockingly short time, it began to mean Colby and Nena as well.


	6. Chapter 6 Family met

_This part requires a little more explanation for those who haven't read my larger series. Will is Don's boyfriend (yeah, I know, what are the odds?) and they live together and have a Maine Coon cat named Monster. _

**Part 6 – Family met**

Don sat in his car in the familiar driveway and looked at Will. Will looked at him.

It was Friday, and Don had been bugging Charlie and Colby all week about meeting Nena, but Colby had been firm that Nena didn't need to be introduced to too many people at once. Then they'd gotten an invitation to dinner and were here, right on time. Sitting in the driveway, unable to get out of the car.

"I don't really know much about kids," Don said at last.

"Me either," Will said.

"I mean, I've been around some, even dated a girl once who had a kid, but that didn't last very long, for other reasons."

"I've never even gotten that close," Will said.

"She's just a five-year-old girl," Don grumbled. "Why would I rather go into a firefight than meet her?"

"Because in a firefight you know what to expect."

"Yeah, and she's gonna be around a lot now too."

"She is," Will agreed and then they sat in silence again.

"At least we have our secret weapon," Don said.

"Yeah, but I don't think we should pull it out right away."

"No, probably not,"

Will waited another moment then said, "So, shall we do this?"

"Alright." Don took a deep breath and got out of the car. Will followed.

Don went up to the front door and resisted the urge to ring the doorbell. Instead, he opened up the door and called, "Hello!"

A waft of delicious smells greeted him, then familiar voices.

Colby came out of the kitchen, holding the hand of a slightly floured girl with blond hair and big green eyes. Dammit if she wasn't the cutest little girl Don had ever seen. He felt a flash of annoyance. Couldn't Colby have had an average girl? Charlie came out of the kitchen too, a big sappy grin on his face.

"Hey Chuck, Hey Colby," Don said.

"Hi guys," Will said.

"Hey!" Charlie said.

"Hey, meet my little girl, Nena," Colby said.

Don smiled down at her. "Hi, I'm Don, I'm Charlie's brother."

"I'm Will."

"Hi," Nena said shyly

She looked between Don and Will, with a perplexed expression on her face. She turned to Colby and asked in a loud whisper, "Do all Daddies in Californeeuh have boywifes?"

"Boywives?" Don snorted in surprise.

Colby smirked. "Tell Don what Charlie is, Nena."

"Charlie is Daddy's boywife," Nena explained. "We're staying in his house."

"_Boywife_ …" Don repeated, grinning and shaking his head. "Oh, Chuck, you're never gonna live this down."

"But you're a boywife too," Charlie countered. "Nena just said so."

"No, no," Don said, "Will's the boywife."

"I am not!" Will laughed. "I'm the husband, you're the boywife."

"I don't _think_ so," Don said, leaning closer to Will.

Will's grin widened and his eyes narrowed with delight, like a cat. "We'll … discuss this later."

"No, Nena," Colby said as Don and Will mock glared at each other. "Most Daddies in California have girlwives, just not us."

"Oh," Nena said with a frown then dismissed it. "Grannpa's making star carrots!"

"_Grandpa_?" Don asked Charlie.

Charlie nodded and grimaced.

"Oh god, he's gone nuts, hasn't he."

"Yup," Charlie said glumly.

"Great," Don groaned.

Will nudged Don. "Secret weapon?"

"Oh!" Don said and smiled. Nena hadn't taken an instant dislike to him so he could pull out his secret weapon now and hopefully cement his position as an okay guy. "Be right back."

Don went back out to the car. He opened the car door and out jumped Monster, quite annoyed at being left behind.

"C'mon," Don said. "Someone your size for you to meet."

He turned back towards the house, to find that Nena had followed him outside to see what the surprise was.

"Kitty!" she said in delight.

"Nena, this is Monster," he said then added quickly before Nena got the wrong idea, "He's mine and Will's cat. He comes over here to visit sometimes."

"Monster…" Nena called softly and held out her hand for Monster to sniff. Monster ignored the hand and went straight for Nena's legs, wrapping himself around her and purring madly.

Don grinned. The only other person Monster had taken to so quickly was Will. To be fair, Monster had met Don while in a cage at the animal shelter so he'd not been exactly at his best, though he'd made his interest in Don clear nonetheless.

Everyone else had come out to the front step and watched as Nena bent to pet Monster. Monster purred harder. Nena reached down to pick Monster up. Before Don could warn her that Monster didn't like being picked up, Monster had put his paws on Nena's shoulder and was rubbing his head against her cheek.

"Traitor," Don said, only half-kidding.

"He's coming home with us," Will warned.

Nena ignored them and carried Monster into the house, calling, "Grannpa! Monster needs milk!"

Will came close to Don and murmured, "Our secret weapon might backfire."

Don shrugged then said, "As long as you're still mine, my cute little boywife."

Will snickered. "That's still to be decided."

"Oh," Don said with a wide-eyed look. "You're not mine?"

Will shoved him in the shoulder and grinned. Everyone trooped back into the house and Don went to make sure that Monster didn't get fed too much milk.

* * *

Dinner was livelier than usual at the Eppes house with the addition of Nena and Monster. Don was already used to Colby being here, and privately thought it about time that Colby moved in, however temporarily. Now if his oblivious little brother would just come out of the clouds for once and ask Colby to move in for good. 

No surprise, Alan had gone all out on dinner. 'Star carrots' turned out to be cooked carrots cut into star shapes. He'd also grilled steaks, potatoes and corn, and promised pie for dessert. Nena had helped with the pie, which is why she had flour on her shirt.

Don cut into his potato and tuned in to what Charlie was talking about. It seemed to be something about Nena's "phonological development" and her difficulty with "consonantal liquid blends" and "word final dental fricatives." Charlie reassured an uncomfortable Colby that Nena was well ahead of the curve in her language development.

Will spoke up. "I crossed path with lots of linguists in college. Do you know there's this joke that linguists have kids so they can study language development?"

"That's cold," Colby said.

"C'mon," Will said, "there's a joke in every field about why to have kids."

"Not in Law Enforcement."

"Oh, I'm sure I could come up with a joke."

"Will," Don said in warning. Colby was looking cross.

Will gave Don a smirk and shrugged, but fell silent. Will loved to tease people, which was sometimes less than appreciated.

"Don't feed Monster your carrots," Alan said to Nena. "They won't agree with his tummy."

Nena asked, "Steak?"

"No," Don said firmly. "No people food. I don't want Monster to learn to beg at the table."

"Oh," Nena said, but Don got the feeling she'd be slipping food to the cat anyway. He sighed.

The dinner chat went on, Don regularly participating, but part of him was watching this five-year-old addition to his world. She was just so ridiculously cute, from her sideways questions to her easy giggle, even the way she wiggled in her chair when she got impatient with adult conversation. She was really getting on his nerves.

Will touched Don's shoulder then glanced meaningfully over at Nena and back. Will leaned close to his ear and murmured, "You can't take your eyes off of her. Envious as hell, aren't you?"

Don grimaced, realizing the feeling behind his annoyance. He nodded.

"Well, if your dad is her grandpa, that makes you an honorary uncle." Will said quietly. "We can come over and play whenever you want."

Don smiled at Will. "You know, you're right."

Will arched his eyebrows. "Of course I am."

Don looked over at Nena, who was fidgeting in her chair while the adults talked about a recent news story.

"Hey, Colby," Don said. "Is it okay if Nena and I go play some catch?"

Nena perked up.

"Sure," Colby smiled, glowing with fatherly pride.

Nena hopped off her chair and came around to Don. "C'mon," she said, "I show you where Charlie hides his bat."

"Not my World Series bat!" Charlie protested.

Don laughed. "I know where we can get another bat, one that boywife Charlie here won't mind if we scratch up."

Charlie rolled his eyes at the use of Nena's term and Don shot him a wicked smile.

"Monster come too?" Nena asked.

"Yeah," Don grinned. "He can fetch the ball when we hit it into the Koi pond."


	7. Chapter 7 Changes proposed

**Part 7 – Changes proposed**

That night, Charlie and Colby lay curled together in Charlie's bed. It was ridiculous, Charlie thought, how happy he was made by the simple act of falling asleep in Colby's arms. He felt like he'd stumbled onto some great secret in life, or maybe it wasn't a secret, it was just so obvious to everyone else in the world that they hadn't bothered to mention it to him.

Colby shifted against him and Charlie was reminded that very soon he was going to have to get a lock on his bedroom door so they could tire themselves out before sleep without worrying about a little girl walking in.

There were many things Charlie wanted, and for some of those things, he had the feeling he just needed ask. But change … he'd never liked it. He had needed his solid, known home to be his anchor all his life. Even when he hadn't lived here, it had given him great consolation knowing that home was still here, still the same. In a far greater percentage of the times in Charlie's life, change meant bad things – Don moving out, Mom dying. Mathematically, it would make sense to avoid change. But it felt so good to fall asleep in Colby's arms …

Colby felt Charlie sigh and wondered what he was thinking about. He often wondered what Charlie was thinking about and sometimes even asked him. Usually Charlie's answers made no sense to Colby, but occasionally Charlie would surprise him and be thinking about something on a totally normal level, like whether the lawn needed to be mowed. Colby rested his cheek against Charlie's hair and tried to decide if he should ask Charlie what he was thinking about or just go to sleep.

He was just about to ask when Charlie quietly said, "Cole?"

"Yes, Angel?" Colby said.

"What would you think …" Charlie said, then paused.

Colby pulled away from Charlie and turned so that he could see Charlie's face in the dim light from the streetlamp outside. Charlie looked nervous. "What is it?" Colby asked, stroking Charlie's cheek.

"Doyouwanttostay?" Charlie burst out.

"What was that?"

"Do you … want to stay here? With me? In my house?"

Colby blinked, then smiled. "You mean move in, permanently?"

"Yeah, you all the time and … Nena when she's with you."

Colby grinned, feeling a rush of surprise and happiness. "I should say, 'Let me think it through' or 'We'll talk about it in the morning when we're both more awake' but screw that. I'd love to move in with you. As long as you've thought about it some and this isn't just some impulse."

Charlie shook his head. "I've been thinking about it since that first night you stayed over. It was so nice to not have you leave at night. Not to mention sleeping with you in the same bed. And to get up in the morning and have you and a groggy little girl sitting at my kitchen table and eating cereal. It was just … wonderful."

"Have you talked to your dad about it?"

"Not yet, but I am pretty sure he'd be happy about it. It'll be like having a real family live here again."

Colby touched Charlie's lips. "It will be a real family."

Colby leaned down and kissed Charlie, a kiss full of promise and joy. Charlie kissed him back, and for a moment they forgot the little girl in the next room. Colby pulled away before it got too heated. There was always time for that later. Now that he was going to live with Charlie …

Colby felt almost intoxicated. Actually, it was much better than a beer buzz, it was like the moment Charlie had first told him he loved him. By asking him to move in, Charlie was saying, 'This isn't some temporary thing. I'm serious about you and want to be with you - good, bad and forever.'

Colby smiled tenderly at Charlie. "You might have been thinking about me moving in since a few days ago, but I've been wanting for you to move in with me or me with you since the very first night you crept into my bed because of nightmares."

Charlie blinked. "Why did you never say anything?"

"I've tried never to push you," Colby said with a shrug. "I've always figured that part of Charlie is better than none."

Charlie flushed. "I'm sorry that I'm so slow. I just … didn't want to mess up something that was working. I usually mess things up when they're good, and didn't want to lose you."

Colby hugged Charlie tightly. "Well, we're both cautious, but we're getting there. I want to be a big part of your life. Always."

Charlie sighed happily and burrowed deeper into Colby's arms. Colby echoed his happy sigh and put his cheek back against Charlie's soft hair. Tomorrow they'd talk about details. Number one priority would be getting a bigger bed.

Charlie yawned and stumbled down the stairs the next morning. Even sharing a bed with Colby couldn't make him a morning person.

Colby had gotten up an hour earlier, and gone for his morning run. Charlie guessed some parts of being in the Army stuck with you. Besides, he couldn't complain that he disliked the results of Colby's fitness program …

Nena was also already up. She was wrapped in a blanket, holding a bowl of cereal, and watching cartoons. Charlie grinned, remembering when he did the exact same thing on Saturday mornings. He was glad that his parents had let him. They'd been really good at letting him be a kid and not just a tiny genius.

"Whatcha watching?" Charlie asked.

"Batman," Nena said without turning.

"Ooo," Charlie said with a smile. Even something he recognized! "Scoot over."

Nena obligingly made room and Charlie crawled under the blanket with her.

Alan found them there, a little while later, with Nena trying to explain a show called 'Xiaolin Showdown' to Charlie.

"…'n Jak he builds robots to fight 'n Wooyuh she was in a box but Jak let her out 'n she wuz real but now she's a ghost 'n …"

"Hi, Dad," Charlie said with relief. "I can't decide if we're watching a cartoon or an animated card game."

"I seem to remember that you liked some pretty stupid shows," Alan said with a smile. "Scooby-Doo and Pink Panther."

"Oh, yeah!" Charlie grinned. "Those were great."

"Yes, your mom and I were quite relieved by this show of normality."

Charlie chuckled, remembering the shows as a break for his over-busy brain.

Alan moved away and Charlie remembered that he needed to talk with him. He excused himself from Nena, who was still chattering about the TV show, and followed his father into the kitchen.

"Dad?" Charlie said, as Alan got out a coffee mug.

"Yes?" Alan lifted the empty coffee pot and frowned at it.

"Oh, sorry," Charlie said. "Meant to refill that last night."

Alan shook his head and set about making coffee.

"Um, Dad," Charlie began, "You've enjoyed having Nena and Colby around, right?"

"Yes, I have," Alan said.

"Not too crowded?"

"Nope."

"What would you think about making it a … permanent arrangement?"

Alan raised his eyebrows. "You mean have Colby and Nena move in with us?"

"Well, Colby, yes, and Nena when it's Colby's week to have her." He looked at his father anxiously. "Is that okay?"

Alan smiled. "Yes, Charlie, that is okay. That's even great. The house has been more alive in the past week than it's been for … well, since you and Don were kids."

"Cool!" Charlie said with relief. "We can talk later about … umm, I'm sure there are things we need to figure out. We'll wait until Colby gets back."

"You mean your practical half?" Alan teased.

Charlie made a face. "I can be practical."

"Ah yes," Alan said. "I'll forebear making a point of all your impracticalities."

"Humph," Charlie said weakly. He left Alan looking thoughtful, probably contemplating new ways to spoil his "grandchild," and went to take a shower.

After his shower, Charlie came down the stairs and was treated to the sight of a sweaty Colby going the other way, his T-shirt sticking to his skin and outlining his chest. Colby gave him a quick squeeze on the arm. Charlie bit his lip and swore to get the lock put on his door today.

He passed by the TV, noting with amusement that Nena was still glued to her cartoons. He went into the kitchen to get some of the coffee his dad had just brewed. Alan was sitting at the kitchen table with his cup of coffee, still looking thoughtful.

Charlie got himself coffee and a cereal spoon and bowl and sat down.

"I need to have a conversation with my landlord," Alan said formally.

"What?" Charlie asked, pausing in his reach for the granola. "I said you could build the stairs."

"Well," Alan said. "The historical society said I couldn't."

"Wow," Charlie said. "They're strict. What now, an elevator?"

"No," Alan said slowly. "I was thinking that the society might be willing to have me build the stair from another room, where it couldn't be seen from the street."

"But," Charlie frowned. "If the whole point was to have your own entrance and—"

"I could move into the spare bedroom at the other end of the hall. It's good sized and just holding junk now anyway."

Charlie blinked. "But … your bedroom!"

"The master suite is a little big for one," Alan said gently.

Charlie stared at him. He couldn't imagine that bedroom not being his father's … and mother's.

Alan continued, "Then you and Colby could have the master bedroom and bathroom. Nena can stay in the guest bedroom or move into your old bedroom."

"Dad …" Charlie said in a choked voice, his head a whirl of emotions. It would be great to have a large bedroom to share with Colby, and their own bathroom, and even a door that locked, but it was his _parent's_ room. Would that be too weird? And could he walk past the bedroom he'd lived in all his life except when he was at college and go into a different room? _Too much change …_ He felt nauseous.

"Just think about it," Alan said and patted his arm. "You don't need to decide right now."

Charlie nodded uneasily. He left his breakfast and went to do some math to steady himself.


	8. Chapter 8 Time turned

**Part 8 – Life turned**

Weeks passed and life settled down to a pleasant routine. After some initial reluctance, Charlie was talked into the bedroom swap. It was weird for about a week then it was like it had always been that way. Charlie and Colby sincerely appreciated the king-sized bed and private bathroom, even if they still had to go down the hall to use a tub. Alan busied himself with plans for the staircase. Nena decided she wanted to stay in the guest bedroom, formerly Don's bedroom, and picked out some funky flowers to stick on the walls.

Don and Will regularly took their turns, together or separately, being in charge of watching Nena. She began calling Don and Will by the names Uncle Don and Uncle Will. Rather, she said 'Unka Don' and 'Unka Wiw', which set Charlie off on another phonological lecture that everyone but Will ignored.

Monster came over to the house regularly, but not all the time. Don and Will's place wasn't exactly on the way from work to the house. Nena always looked for Monster first, but was happy enough to see just Don or Will. Will was gone for a week on a scary undercover job and Nena was as anxious as anyone for Will's safety until he returned.

Nena was mostly a sunny, happy little girl but she had her moments of storminess. She pushed her limits with each person, to see what she could get away with, but eventually came to an understanding of each of the adults who were her regular caretakers. She was known, though, to take advantage of Charlie's absentmindness to get two desserts or an absurdly late bedtime.

Nena's worst trait was that she could be clingy, especially when Colby was trying to leave for work. She would manufacture emergencies to stop Colby from getting out the door. Colby continued to show natural talent for fatherhood and developed a routine that would give Nena what he called her "Daddy, Daddy!" moments and still get him to work on time.

One day the whole family went to the beach. Nena even tried to bring Monster but Colby explained that cats don't like sand. Five adult men and one little girl caused a few raised eyebrows, but they were getting used to that. Charlie got caught up in creating an elaborate sandcastle, complete with flying buttresses. Meanwhile, Alan snoozed in the sun, and Will and Colby joined a beach volleyball game. Don and Nena played in the waves, collected shells, and made a sandcastle with two buckets of sand and some seaweed.

One hot afternoon, Nena and Colby chased each other around the yard with water guns, Nena shrieking all the while. Alan complained about the wet mess in his kitchen but no one believed his fuss.

Nena showed interest in the piano and Don began giving her lessons. Nena continued to excel in reading, and Colby suspected that she would have learned to read with or without Jenny's encouragement. Colby started to seriously investigate local kindergartens and got her on his health care plan with the FBI.

Will and Colby discovered a mutual love for a wide range of sports. Often Don, and on the rare occasion Charlie, joined them for everything from street hockey to water polo. Sometimes David and Megan joined them as well. All six of them went parachuting with one of Colby's army buddies and Will was the only one that threw up. Will and Colby even played as a team in a local beach volleyball tournament and were proud of their "not quite last" placement.

In fact, things went so well that it was easy to forget that it couldn't last forever.

* * *

Over seven weeks after Nena had come into his life, Charlie was in the middle of some beautifully flowing work on Cognitive Emergence when the doorbell rang. He stopped, his chalk held up mid-equation, and waited for someone else to answer the door. Knocking followed the doorbell and Charlie remembered that he was the only person home to answer the door. _That's what I get for working in the solarium instead of the garage, no matter how lovely the sun is._

He sighed and set down his chalk. Absently wiping the chalk from his hands onto his pants, he concentrating on keeping the math active in his mind so he could get back to it as soon as he dealt with the delivery driver or whatever.

He opened the door, a ready 'thank-you goodbye' on his lips, and was brought up short.

A blond, tanned woman stood in the doorway, clutching a piece of paper. A dark green SUV was parked in the driveway behind her. Charlie suddenly recognized the paper and the woman. It was the note that Colby had left on the door of his old apartment in case Jenny came back without calling … and this woman was Jenny, Nena's mother.

Colby was at work, and Nena and Alan had gone down the park for one of her regular visits to Mr. Frogtree. Charlie blinked, frantically trying to clear his mind from the grip of numbers. The woman stared at him.

Charlie cleared his throat. "Hi. You must be Jenny." He held out his hand. "I'm Charlie."

Jenny eyed him and gingerly shook his hand. "Where's Nena?"

"She's at the park," Charlie said. "Would you like to come in?"

"At the park, with Colby?"

"No, no. She's with my dad."

"And … who are you again?"

"I'm, umm, Charlie," Charlie rubbed his hands together nervously. "I'm Colby's boyfriend."

Jenny looked confused, then her face went red. "What the hell?"

"C-Colby's at work, why don't I call him?"

"No," Jenny's eyes narrowed. "You're going to tell me where my daughter is before I call the police."

"She-she's at the park with my dad," Charlie stammered. "It's just down the street."

"Show me," she snapped.

Charlie swallowed. He had a full and sudden image of them going to the park, her grabbing Nena, and them never seeing Nena again. Colby would never forgive him. His dad would never forgive him. _He_ would never forgive himself. He backpedaled desperately. "Why don't I just call Colby and you and he can talk and—" He picked up his cell phone.

"Listen to me, you little fag," Jenny said harshly. "You have two seconds to show me where Nena is or I will call the police and report kidnapping and sexual assault and whatever else I can come up with."

"FBI handles kidnappings," Charlie said weakly and pressed One on his speed dial. He pressed the phone to his ear and backed behind the couch. "Pick up, pick up," he muttered. It went to Colby's voicemail and Charlie's stomach clenched. Jenny was advancing on him, her hands fists at her sides, her face dark red.

Charlie quickly hung up and pressed speed dial Two.

"Charlie, what is it?" Don said impatiently. "We're in the middle of—"

"Jenny's here," Charlie interrupted. "She's at the house and she's really mad and Nena and dad are at the park and she's gonna call the police and take Nena away and I'll never see her again and she called me a fag."

Don made a harsh inarticulate sound then said, "Stay there, Charlie. Don't do anything. Do _not_ tell her where Nena is."

"But—"

"Is that Colby?" Jenny snapped. "Tell that sick bastard I wanna talk to him!"

"I am going to call the police myself and get a squad car out there," Don said.

"But—" Charlie said.

"Tell him I want my daughter right now or I will rip out his pretty boy's spleen!"

"Hang tight, Charlie," Don said. "We're on our way. I'll get a squad car there in five minutes. We'll be there in twenty."

Don hung up and Charlie stared at the phone. He looked at Jenny. "C-Can I get you s-some coffee?"

"_What?_" Jenny yelled. "You sure as _hell_ can't get me a cup of coffee. Where the fuck is Nena?"

Charlie paled, remembering all the stories of mother animals defending their young. "O-orange juice?"

Jenny growled and advanced on him. Charlie did the only thing he could think of. He turned and ran.


	9. Chapter 9 Battle lines drawn

**Part 9 – Battle lines drawn**

Don snapped the phone shut and looked at the roomful of people staring at him. He was in the middle of a meeting on a significant fraud case, but that was no longer important. This was family.

He punched in a new number while turning to Colby. "Jenny's at the house," he snapped out, "She's pissed and scaring Charlie. Nena's at the park with Dad."

Colby went pale, then red. Then he was on his feet and across the floor.

Don called, "Wait!"

Colby ignored him and Don raised his voice. "Granger, you better wait five seconds for me to make this phone call or I will shoot you!"

Colby stopped, his back to Don, his whole body trembling with anger and the need to race to Charlie's and Nena's aid.

"LAPD," said a woman in the phone.

"This is Don Eppes, FBI, 3695. I need a squad car for immediate dispatch. Parental custody dispute with—Dammit, she's in my house, threatening my brother." He gave the address and waited for confirmation before hanging up.

Don pulled out his keys and turned to David. "Go to Mixson Park, near my house, and pick up my dad and Nena. Take them to my place." He removed a key and tossed it to David. "Stay with them and make sure my Dad doesn't do anything stupid." David nodded.

Don turned to Megan. "You and Granger are with me. I'm gonna need your help with Jenny. I'll drive and you call Will and see if he's closer to the house than us."

"Meeting's over," he said to the rest of the crowd in the room. "We'll pick this up tomorrow."

He gripped Colby's shoulder and said, "Let's go."

* * *

Charlie raced past Jenny and out the back door. Jenny recovered quickly and was after him. Charlie got to the garage, fumbled open the door, and slammed it behind him, right in Jenny's face. He clicked the lock closed and looked around frantically to make sure there were no other unlocked entrances.

Jenny pounded on the door. "Come back here!"

Charlie backed away from the door and clenched his hands together, which were shaking from adrenaline. He called out, "I think that it would be better if we waited until Colby gets here."

"No way!" Jenny yelled, "I'm getting Nena out of this whorehouse right now!"

"_Whorehouse_?" Charlie yelled back angrily. "How dare you say that about my family's house? Just because you don't like—"

A rock smashed through the glass on the door and Charlie dove to the floor.

"What have you done to Nena?" Jenny screamed. "If you've hurt her, I will kill you."

"We would never hurt her!" Charlie shouted.

"Of course you would, you're a sicko!"

That made absolutely no sense to Charlie – wouldn't a little girl be 'safer' around a gay man than a straight one? – but he knew that Jenny was not in the mood for debate.

"Colby will be here soon," Charlie called, then swore and covered his head when a rock smashed through another pane of glass on the door.

"I never want to see that homo again!"

Charlie crawled across the floor and under a table.

"_Where is Nena?_"

Charlie huddled under the table and wished he was wearing a watch. How long ago did he talk to Don? He seemed to have dropped his cell phone while running from Jenny.

"Answer me, you fairy!"

Charlie said nothing, just clutched his knees. Jenny threw rock after rock at the garage, shattering all the panes of glass in the door, knocking over piles of files, bashing against the chalkboards. It was like being at the FBI office again, when that shooter had gone on a rampage.

No, this was worse because this was Charlie's private sanctuary. He should get up, do something to stop her, but he just waited while Jenny threw rocks and obscenities at him, dredging up every derogatory term for homosexuals that Charlie had ever heard and some new ones. He was shaking with anger and fear and something else … realization. This is what his world could be like, how people could have reacted to his coming out as gay, rather than the understanding he'd gotten. _God, I've been—I _am_ lucky._ He didn't attribute it to Jenny being from Michigan or anything, he'd heard that Will's mother was just as bad, though a little more subtle about it.

Jenny seemed to run out of obscenities, or maybe her voice was just getting tired. She'd broken all the panes of glass in the garage door and splinters of glass covered the garage floor. _I really should replace that with safety glass_, Charlie thought vaguely. One chalkboard he could see from his hiding place had a long crack across its surface, splitting up the chalk equation. _Was a lousy equation anyway._

He heard Jenny muttering to herself, then footsteps on the driveway. Several thunking sounds, then the thundering crash of breaking glass. _The front room window? The kitchen? My car?_ Too bad he hadn't recorded the acoustic signature, because it would be simple to determine which window it had been. _Assuming it was a window. I could have just thought it was glass. It might have been splintering wood. _Charlie had left the front door open in his haste, so it couldn't have been just to get into the house. He wondered if there were any obvious clues lying around the house to where the park was. Muffled thumping noises said that Jenny was most likely inside the house.

If she just turned and walked two blocks west, she would find Nena and everything would come to an end. Charlie put his head onto his knees and held back tears. He couldn't tell if the tears were from fear or awareness that his long idyll with Nena and Colby was over. He wanted so much to go back to yesterday, when all that he needed to worry about was how to get Rocko out of the elm tree and where to go for dinner.

When he first heard the distant siren, Charlie thought it must be his imagination, because he'd been straining his ears for that exact sound for so long. However, the sound didn't fade, rather grew louder and louder until he heard a car pull into the driveway. Charlie heard the chatter from a police radio and a deep voice requesting backup.

"Hello?" Charlie called out.

"Sir?" That deep voice called. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Charlie said, his voice shaking. "She's in the house."

"Stay put," the police officer said and moved away.

_Like I'm going to do anything,_ Charlie thought morosely. He looked at the shattered glass and his bare feet and pulled himself tighter inside his refuge.

He waited for the gunshot. Didn't things like this always end in gunshots? He imagined Jenny's body laying on the floor in his front room, her blood seeping into the carpet. What was he going to tell Nena? She would hate him. Colby would hate him for hurting Nena. Charlie's world was broken across the floor and all he could do was stare at the glass and compute blast patterns.


	10. Chapter 10 Nightmares seen

**Part 10 – Nightmares seen**

Don arrived at a scene from his personal nightmares. His family's house was surrounded by flashing police cars, police with guns and SWAT gear, fire trucks, and an ambulance. The front window to the house had been smashed and the front door hung sideways. The garage looked like it had been battered by a hailstorm.

None of that mattered because he couldn't see Charlie. He was out the door before his car came to a complete stop, his gun ready in his hand. He grabbed the nearest cop and demanded, "Are there hostages?"

The policeman stammered, "No, sir," then tried to recover, "Who are you?"

"Casualties?" Don snapped.

"No, no … sir."

Don's grip on the man's arm loosened. "Then where is my brother?"

"Oh, you must be—He's in the garage. He won't come out."

That was just so Charlie that Don burst out laughing, half amusement, half hysterical relief. The policeman drew back in alarm.

"Sorry," Don said, "I'll go talk to him."

Don released the policeman's arm and the man scooted away.

Walking toward the garage, Don looked around the yard, taking in the damage. It was mostly superficial - there was just something about the light of emergency vehicles that had bathed everything in lurid shades. He spotted a woman sitting in the back of a cop car. From her blond hair and the shape of her face, Don knew immediately that it was Jenny.

He turned back to his own car quickly, but it was too late. Colby was already striding across the lawn toward the car with the woman.

Don swore and raced toward Colby.

"Granger!" he shouted. Colby didn't pause, but Don knew what would make him stop. "Charlie's in the garage, he won't come out. Can you go talk to him?"

Colby stopped and turned around, his face red. "You get him," he snapped. "I've got someone to talk to."

"Colby," Don said, his voice firm. "I know my brother. I know that somewhere in that screwy brain of his, he's decided that this is all his fault."

Colby grimaced and nodded. "You're right. I'll go get him."

"Good," Don said. "And _stay_ with him and keep him and yourself _away_ from Jenny until we can talk to her, okay?"

Colby's mouth worked and he finally spat out, "Okay," and turned toward the garage.

Megan came up next to Don. "Good idea."

Don grumbled. "I want to talk to her myself, first. Look what she did!" He started walking toward the cop car.

"Don!" Megan said. The sharp command in her voice made him turn and stare at her. She pointed to his hand.

Don flushed, realizing he still had his gun drawn. He hadn't forgotten when he was holding his gun for years, not since the worst days of Fugitive Retrieval. He nodded his thanks at Megan and holstered his gun. He gave her a weak smile. "Maybe you should talk to her first."

"Yeah," Megan said quietly and walked past Don.

* * *

Colby stalked toward the garage, his whole body trembling with rage. When he got to the battered door, his hands shook as he unlocked it. The anger only grew as he saw what Jenny had done to Charlie's personal workspace. Chalkboards lay at skewed angles, papers lay scattered, glass crunched under his feet.

"Charlie?" he called quietly, like he was at a murder scene.

"Cole?" Charlie said from beneath a table. His voice sounded shaky and weak.

Colby moved quickly toward that voice. Charlie peeked out from underneath the table, his face pale and tear-streaked. "I'm sorry I didn't stop her," he said softly.

Colby grimaced and crouched down. Don was right to send him in here.

Charlie misread Colby's grimace and hunched his shoulders. "She … she surprised me."

Reaching out, Colby took Charlie's chin in his hand and forced Charlie to meet his eyes. "She surprised us all."

"Is she … dead?"

Colby blinked. "No, of course not."

"Oh," Charlie said, his shoulders still tightly hunched. "I figured she'd threaten the cop and he'd have to shoot her, and then Nena would hate me then you'd hate me and you'd leave."

Colby slowly shook his head. _Screwy brain, indeed._

Charlie's left arm had several small slashes from flying glass. Blood welled up from the cuts, and anger welled up in Colby, so fierce and hot that he had trouble breathing. She had come to their home and hurt Charlie, just because he was Colby's.

"Got off pretty easy, huh," Charlie said.

"Come out of the garage," Colby said, struggling to keep his voice even. "The paramedics need to check you over."

Charlie mutely pointed to his bare feet. For some reason this last bit of vulnerability struck Colby like a gunshot, and he crawled under the table with Charlie and roughly pulled him into his arms.

"I'm so sorry, Angel," Colby said hoarsely. "Oh god, I'm sorry."

Charlie's arms tightened around Colby. "I'm not hurt," Charlie protested. "Just feel like an idiot."

"I'm so sorry," Colby repeated. "I swore I'd never put you in danger and here I did."

"I wasn't really in that much danger," Charlie said stoutly, brave now that the crisis was past.

"I knew that Jenny had a temper, but I had no idea …"

"I think she really hates gays," Charlie said quietly.

"Yeah," Colby said with a sigh. "Thank god that she hadn't managed to transfer that to Nena."

Charlie nodded.

"C'mon, let's get you out of here. We can clean up later."

Charlie nodded again and wrapped his arms around Colby's shoulders. Colby pulled Charlie out from underneath the table and carried him out of the garage

Outside, Charlie stared around at the scene with troubled eyes. The fire trucks had left but the ambulance, multiple squad cars, and Don's crookedly parked car crowded the street, milling people crowded the lawn. People were taking pictures, writing things down, talking in official voices.

Colby released Charlie's legs and Charlie slid down, his feet touching the grass, but he retained his grip around Colby's neck. He was trembling and Colby recognized the delayed stress reaction. He folded Charlie into his arms and glared over his shoulder at Jenny in the cop car.

* * *

Don followed Megan as she walked toward Jenny. As he got closer, he could see that Jenny's face was red and blotchy from tears.

A cop stood next to the car. "We haven't been able to get her to talk to anyone, except for asking where her daughter is."

Megan nodded and asked the cop to uncuff Jenny. The cop looked over at Don. He'd obviously been told that Don was in charge here.

Don said, "Do it."

The cop opened the door and released the cuffs. Jenny rubbed her wrists and shot the cop a dirty look.

"Hi," Megan said with soothing calmness. "I'm Megan."

Jenny just glared at her.

Megan said, "Everything kinda got out of hand, didn't it?"

Jenny frowned and looked mulish.

Megan crouched down so that she was looking up at Jenny. "I can completely understand why you're so upset! I would be too if I were in your shoes."

Jenny looked at her warily.

Megan said, her voice casual but earnest, "So you drop off your girl with her father and you go on a nice vacation, right? You come back, all rested and ready to pick up your little girl again. You go to her dad's apartment where you left her and there's a note that he's moved. That's kinda weird but you think, okay, and you go to this other place. There you meet an unknown man who tells you that your daughter is with another unknown man and he won't tell you where. You don't know anything about this man and your instincts tell you something is wrong here."

Don wanted to protest but he bit his tongue. Megan knew what she was doing.

Megan continued, "So you don't know where your daughter is, or her father, and you've walked into this very unsettling situation. You're scared and upset. So you start saying things and doing things that maybe you don't really intend to, because your daughter's missing and you don't understand why and no one seems to be listening to you."

Jenny nodded, sniffling.

"Yeah," Megan said gently, "Very upsetting. Maybe later, when things calm down, you might wish things had gone differently. But it's so hard to think when our kids are involved, right?"

Jenny nodded again, looking less hostile and more pathetic.

"So you just need to calm down and talk to some people, okay?"

"Okay," Jenny said softly.

Megan looked up at Don, nodding slightly.

Don gave her a quick grip on the shoulder then turned to Jenny. "Ma'am, I am Don Eppes." He decided that the formal approach would be the best. "This is my family's home and Charlie is my brother. Colby is my employee."

Jenny's eyes narrowed, "So you're here to—"

Don cut her off. "I doubt you comprehend the amount of trouble you are in now," he said coolly. "Not only did you cause considerable damage to my house, a protected historical building, but you attacked my brother, who happens to be rated as an extremely critical federal asset. I am telling you this because I want you to know that you are in deep shit. No matter how justified you felt your behavior was, if I want to, I can drop you in a hole where you'll never see the light of day again, let alone your daughter."

"You wouldn't dare!" Jenny said, glaring defiantly at him. "I'm her mother!" But Don saw the alarm in her eyes. _It's a start._

Don let her stew on that for a moment, and he turned to look at the garage. Colby was emerging, a shaken-looking Charlie in his arms. As Don watched, Colby attempted to put Charlie down but Charlie clung to him. Colby shot a vicious look at Jenny over Charlie's shoulder. Then he looked at Don and made a thumbs-up gesture.

Don relaxed shoulders that he didn't realize were still tensed. Charlie was okay. A paramedic came up to Charlie, and took a look at his scraped arm. Colby was able to free himself from Charlie and he came walking purposefully across the yard.

Don met him halfway. "Don't do anything stupid," Don said quietly, "And you've got full custody."

Colby blinked at him, obviously surprised, and Don stepped aside. Colby continued toward Jenny, a little less aggressively.

"Jenny," Colby said, his voice flat. "Have a good two month vacation?"

"I wouldn't have if I'd known you were shacking up with your pretty little boy whore."

Colby stared at her, his nostrils flaring. Don could see the muscles bunching along Colby's arms as he struggled for control.

"Mr. Granger?" said the policeman next to him. "Are you the main aggrieved party here, or will Dr. Eppes also be pressing charges?"

Colby looked at the policeman. Don waited for Colby to say, 'Yes, throw the psycho bitch in jail,' but instead Colby said, "No, sir, no charges. I'd like an official report to be made of the incident, however."

"_What_?" Don snapped.

"You can press charges if you want," Colby said quietly, "but I'd rather solve this mess ourselves instead of dragging Nena through court if we can."

Don growled under his breath, "Dammit, Colby, look what she did! To my house, to _Charlie_!"

"Yes," Colby said simply. "I know. I also know that nothing in this world matters to me more than my little girl. Please don't make me choose between Charlie and Nena. It'll kill me, but I will choose Nena every time, I have to."

Don stared at him for a long moment. Not in a firefight, not after a tough case, Don never respected Colby more than he did at that moment. "Okay," he said in a strangled voice, "No charges. But a fully documented report."

The policeman nodded and began filling out the paperwork.

Colby looked at Jenny and Jenny looked at him. Don had expected words to be flying hot and angry by now, but Don realized that even with Jenny's extreme behavior, she also thought she was looking out for Nena, trying to get her out of what her twisted mind said was a harmful situation.

Finally, Colby turned to Don. "Call David and have him bring Nena home."


	11. Chapter 11 Introductions made

**Part 11 – Introductions made**

Everyone around Nena was tense, but no one would tell her why. It had been a normal day, her and Grandpa Alan at the park, when David had suddenly arrived. At first, Grandpa had gone pale and asked if Don was okay. David had nodded quickly and said that he was just there to pick them up. He had leaned over and whispered in Grandpa's ear and Grandpa had looked at her then suddenly she had gotten stuck into David's car – experiencing the odd feeling of sitting in just a seatbelt since David didn't have a car seat – and David was driving them away from home.

They'd arrived at her Uncles' house but Uncle Don and Uncle Will weren't home, which was weird. Monster came and sat next to Nena, but even he seemed tense. Grandpa paced the floor. When Uncle Will came home a little while later, he was talking on the phone, his forehead crinkled. The only person who would smile at her or even talk to her was David. He pulled out some of her books and tried to interest her in reading them to him, but both of them kept losing their place.

Uncle Will's phone rang and he talked on it again and then more to Grandpa. They kept looking over at Nena. Finally, Uncle Will shut the phone and David stood up.

"Time to go home, Nena," Grandpa said quietly. Nena didn't know why he would say such happy words in so sad a voice.

David shut the book and he went out to his car. Uncle Will, Grandpa, and Nena got into Uncle Will's car, because he had a car seat, and the two cars drove towards home. No one talked on the drive and Nena fiddled with her seat strap, bored and anxious.

They drove down the familiar street and Nena noticed that there were lots of cars parked near their house. There was a big mess too. Were they having a party? A bad party?

Their car stopped in the middle of the street and Grandpa got out and helped Nena from her car seat. Who were all these people?

Then she saw Mommy and forgot her questions.

"Mommy!" Nena called out and slipped out of Grandpa's grasp. Mommy was sitting in a cop car, and her face looked all blotchy but tan. Nena ran up to her and gave her a big hug. Mommy hugged her too tightly and Nena squirmed away.

"Mommy, I missed you! Charlie and Daddy and me went to the park and Mr. Frogtree is there and we go every day and I have flowers on my waw and Grannpa likes me to play pyano with him and Unka Don is teaching me and I do my scales and we read about Stuwart Littah and we saw a geeraf at the zoo and I got a runny nose and Monster kept stealin' my tissues and …" Nena trailed off as she realized that Mommy wasn't listening to all the exciting things that she'd been doing. Mommy wasn't even looking at her, she was looking over Nena's shoulder, and her face was pinched up.

Nena turned around and saw that Daddy and Charlie and everybody were standing there. Why would Mommy be looking at them all mad?

Oh! Mommy didn't know anyone here, so it was like being the new kid at the party. Nena could fix that.

Nena grabbed Mommy's hand and pulled her to her feet. She dragged her over to Charlie. Charlie's face looked strange and he even jerked away from her, but he was probably just thinking about Math. He would get funny looks on his face when he thought about Math.

"Mommy, this is Charlie!" Nena said with a smile. "We live in his house and he's really good at Math and we read books and he's Daddy's boywife."

Mommy didn't smile like adults usually did when she used that word, and Nena frowned in confusion. Still she persevered.

She pulled Mommy over to Uncle Don, who was wearing what Nena thought of as his 'Fed face.' It was a stern, cold face but Uncle Don always smiled and banished it when Nena talked to him. Uncle Will was standing next to him, wearing a similar expression. "This is Unka Don," she said, "and Unka Wiw. Monster is their cat but he's not here right now."

Uncle Don's face didn't change and Nena felt increasingly anxious. Why were all these people that she loved not smiling at each other?

"This is Grannpa Alan," Nena said in a rush, "He lives with me and Daddy and Charlie. An' this is David, he works with Daddy, and Megan, she works with Daddy too and Unka Don, and Charlie sometimes too."

She finished with the introductions, but Mommy didn't look any happier. She looked even more mad.

Frightened by everyone's mad faces, Nena let go of Mommy's hand and ran over to Daddy. She reached out her hands and Daddy picked her up and she buried her head in his shoulder. She didn't understand what was going on but it was scary and bad, and if anyone could protect her, it was Daddy.

* * *

There was a tense moment of silence after Nena hid herself in Colby's arms. Seven adults stood together against one defiant woman.

"Now what?" Jenny said harshly. "You've obviously brainwashed her into thinking this … _family_ is okay."

Colby's arms tightened around Nena. He didn't ever want to let her go, ever. And certainly not to this woman who had trashed his house and hurt his Charlie. But he couldn't just think about what he wanted. Nena's needs came first.

He cleared his throat. "What now is you go somewhere else – get a hotel room, get drunk, get laid, whatever, just don't come back here. When you're feeling calmer, call me on my cell phone and you and I will meet somewhere neutral and talk about what Nena needs."

"How dare you presume to know what—"

"Don't _push_ me, Jenny," Colby snapped. "You say one more word and I will sue for full custody, and given what you did here today, you will never be allowed near Nena again."

Jenny's whole body clenched and she turned red with anger. For a long, still moment, Colby thought she might lash out at him, even while he was holding Nena. That thought turned him cold. He waited for Jenny to make her last, fatal move.

But finally, Jenny spat at his feet and turned and walked towards her car. The crowd on the front lawn watched her go in silence. It wasn't until she got in her car and screeched out of the driveway and down the street that anyone let out a breath.

"Whoosh," Alan said weakly.

"Yeah," Will agreed. That was all anyone wanted to say on the topic of Jenny for the moment.

"You sure you're okay, Charlie?" Don asked.

"Yeah, yeah," Charlie grumbled tiredly.

David looked at his watch. "Too late to get back to work …" He shrugged. "How about we all go out to Belle Pizza and get something greasy and artery-clogging? And there just happens to be a real ice-cream parlor right next door to Belle's."

"Food," Megan said wryly, "The cure-all."

"That's what I was raised to believe," David said with a smile.

Everyone else but Colby shrugged and nodded in agreement.

"Nena, honey?" Colby said softly to the head still buried in his shoulder.

Nena sniffled then said, "'Kay."

"Okay!" Colby said with forced cheerfulness. The next few days were not going to be fun. "Let's go get some serious comfort food."


	12. Chapter 12 Opinions aired

Part 12 – Opinions aired

The moratorium on talking about Jenny lasted only until they got to Belle's and got the pizza ordered. Then they talked, and talked, and talked. Throughout the afternoon and evening, it seemed to Colby that all he did was talk. Everyone had their opinion and wanted to debate it with Colby.

Alan wanted Colby to sue for full custody. Don wanted the same, plus a restraining order against Jenny that she couldn't come anywhere near Charlie or Nena. Charlie just wanted things back the way they were last week. When pressed, he said that he would like full custody but with Jenny having visitation rights – just as long as Nena saw Jenny somewhere far, far away from Charlie.

David said that first thing Colby should do is to cut off the money flow to Jenny and that would bring out her true colors. Megan suggested investigating Jenny's history to see if this was an isolated incident or if there was a pattern of violence. She recommended counseling at the least, since Jenny seemed to have manifested a rather extreme reaction to the situation.

Later, Larry even emailed from space to weigh in. From what Colby could make out, his suggestion was for Colby to have Nena exclusively for the next five years then a shared custody. This was awfully tempting, since Jenny had gotten Nena mostly to herself for the first five years. But five years was a very long time for a little girl to be without her mother.

Oddly enough, or maybe it wasn't so odd, Will was the only one who agreed with Colby that he should try to work out a continued shared custody arrangement. Will just said quietly that there was real value in knowing both of your parents, even if they weren't ideal.

Jenny certainly wasn't ideal, but she wasn't a bad mother. She had managed to raise a loving, healthy daughter, and no one could fault her that. Nena could have been a bitter, neglected little girl, but she wasn't. A long, nasty custody battle would only hurt and confuse her. She needed both her mother and her father.

Colby still had a lot of people telling him to take Jenny to court, but that stopped when Charlie quietly told them about Colby's experiences as a child. Colby knew what an ugly custody battle looked like and would not put Nena through that if there was any way to avoid it. Colby wasn't thrilled that people now knew about his father, though Don had already known since it was in Colby's psych profile when Don hired him. Colby was grateful that Don had never said anything. Nena too would have to learn someday about her Grandfather Granger, but not anytime soon.

* * *

That night, after Nena had brushed her teeth, she came down the stairs. Colby and Don were in the middle of taping a sheet of plastic over the big gap where the front window had been.

"Don't come any closer!" Colby called out. "There's still glass everywhere."

Nena stopped on the bottom stair.

Colby smiled at her tiredly. "I'll be up to tuck you in bed and read you a story in just a minute, okay?"

"Charlie's turn," Nena mumbled.

"Okay, then, we'll both be up soon."

Nena nodded and Colby turned back to the awkward plastic sheet. He and Don struggled with it until most of the air gaps were closed. It would be okay for a few days, as long as it didn't rain or get too windy. He turned back to the room and realized that Nena was still standing there.

"Okay, I'm coming," he said, stepping carefully over the shards of glass that still glinted on the floor. At the edge of the room, he pulled off his shoes and set them aside so he wouldn't track glass throughout the house. Both Nena and Charlie liked to wander around in bare feet.

"Upstairs," Colby said to Nena.

Nena hesitated. "Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"Can I … sleep with you and Charlie?"

Colby blinked. Nena hadn't ever wanted to sleep with him, even as a toddler. Then again, it had been a very stressful day. He wouldn't mind having Nena that close himself. "Okay, Nena-bear, you can sleep with us, though you need to understand that this is a special treat and you can't be asking this a lot."

Nena smiled and nodded quickly.

"Now go on up and pick out what book you want Charlie to read. I'll be right up."

Nena hurried up the stairs and Colby went into the kitchen. Charlie was sitting at the table with Will and David. They were talking about, what else, Jenny. Colby went over and put his hand on Charlie's shoulder. He leaned over and asked Charlie quietly, "Is it okay if Nena sleeps with us tonight?"

Charlie looked surprised. "Yeah, sure."

"You guys need help with the front window?" Will asked.

"No, we got it," Colby responded.

"Okay, well, we should probably clear out if it's bedtime," David said.

"It's bedtime for almost-five-year-olds, but an early night isn't a bad idea," Colby agreed.

Charlie nodded and stood. "Bed sounds good. Somewhere warm and quiet and glass-free."

They said their goodnights and left Will and David debating who was going to take Megan back to the office for her car.

Upstairs, they found Nena sitting in the middle of their bed.

"This is just for a special treat, right?" Colby reminded her.

"Uh-hmm," Nena said and held out her book.

"'Goodnight Moon'?" Colby asked. Nena hadn't wanted that book since she was two or three. He shrugged. It was a night for comfort things.

Charlie and Colby shooed Nena out of the bedroom and got themselves ready for bed. They opened the door again and Nena ran in and climbed under the blankets, right in the center. Colby exchanged a smile with Charlie. _Looks like Nena wants to be next to both of us._

Charlie turned off the overhead light and Colby turned on the lamps on each side of the bed. Charlie crawled under the covers and began reading the book. It was such a short book that Charlie had to read it three times before Nena was satisfied she'd gotten her bedtime reading allotment.

Nena fell asleep with her head on Colby's stomach and her feet in Charlie's lap. Colby stroked her hair and got his own book out. He was slowly making his way through a book that Charlie had given him about "the new physics", called 'The Dancing Wu-Li Masters.' Before he opened his book, he looked over at Charlie, who was reading 'The Journal of Hyperbolic Differential Equations' and making notes in the margins. Colby watched Charlie's face as he frowned in concentration.

Flashes of images from the afternoon ran through his mind, but the one that stuck was Charlie, bare-foot and scratched and hiding under a table. _If Jenny had really hurt you …_

He reached over and touched Charlie's arm.

"Hmm?" Charlie said absently.

"Just love you, is all," Colby said.

Blinking, Charlie looked at him then said softly, "I'm okay, Cole."

"I still love you," Colby smiled.

"Good," Charlie smiled back. "Mutual."

There was so much more Colby wanted to say … then he realized it was already there, shining gently in Charlie's eyes. Colby squeezed Charlie's arm then picked up his book.


	13. Chapter 13 Cleanup started

Part 13 – Cleanup started

The next morning, Alan was in the front room assessing the damage in the light of day. He griped to himself as he cleaned up the shards of glass. The front window to the house had been original and was going to be very expensive to replace. He found it ironic that the window had survived two boys who loved baseball, but not one irate mother. The two glass cabinets that Alan and Charlie had just put in were both partially broken, but at least that was modern glass. The photo of Charlie and Colby was a complete loss – the frame smashed and the photo shredded, but that was relatively easy to replace. But what kind of mental state did that demonstrate?

"Should lock her up," Alan mumbled. "Crazy woman. Never let her near Nena again. What does Colby think he's doing?"

The object of his question appeared in the doorway from the kitchen, but thankfully he didn't seem to have heard. "The garage is pretty much back together," Colby said. "The new door I put in has safety glass in the window panes. I repaired the dents in the wall, but the big car garage door is going to need to be replaced or just live with a few dents."

Alan nodded his thanks. Colby had been up since dawn working on the garage.

Colby picked up a broom and started sweeping glass bits. "I found a place online where I can buy replacement chalkboards. You know how hard it is to find old-fashioned chalkboards like that? Everything's white boards now."

"I bet they're expensive," Alan grumbled. "And this window, I just got a phone estimate on the replacement. That's _if_ they can find something the historical society will accept. And who's gonna pay for it?"

Colby stopped sweeping. "I will, of course," he said stiffly. He sighed and rested his shoulder against the wall. "I apologize again for all of this. I know just paying for the damage doesn't really make it better. I should never have moved here, not without Jenny knowing."

Alan grimaced. "No, no, I'm sorry." He dumped a gloveful of glass into the trash and straightened up. He met Colby's eyes and said firmly, "I'm glad you two moved here. It's been good, really good. I love having Nena around and Charlie … I've never seen my youngest son happier. I'll give up some antique glass to see that, any day."

Colby gave him a faint smile. "Didn't know it was a going to be a choice between the two – glass or happiness."

"Neither did I," Alan sighed. "I appreciate you doing all these repairs, but the costs … I'd like to take those straight out of Jenny's hide."

"Unfortunately," Colby said wryly, "Jenny's main source of income right now is me, so I'd be paying for it anyway."

Alan nodded sadly.

"Daddy?"

Alan turned to see that Nena was standing on the stairs. She'd come down without either of them realizing. Her face was white.

"Nena," Colby said, moving quickly to her side. "What's wrong?"

"Did … did Mommy break all the glass?"

"Yes, honey," Colby said gently. "Who did you think did it?"

Nena's lower lip trembled. "Bad people?"

"No," Colby sighed. He sat down on the stairs and pulled Nena to sit down next to him. "Mommy isn't a bad person, she just got scared. She thought that you were in trouble."

"Trouble?"

"She was surprised that we moved."

"But … Mommy would never …" Nena said stoutly. "Mommy wouldn't hurt Nena's house. Some bad person came and did it. Mommy wouldn't hurt Charlie. He's all scratched."

Colby looked up and met Alan's eyes. At least that answered one question that had been bothering all of them – whether Jenny regularly had such rages. If Nena didn't believe her mother was capable of the behavior, then it must not be common. It also must not be regularly directed at Nena. That's something neither of them would permit. It looked like a case of a woman lifting a car to save her child, or rather attacking people she saw as her child's kidnappers and molesters.

_Doesn't excuse it, dammit,_ Alan thought bitterly.

Colby turned back to Nena. "I'm afraid she did, sweetie."

Nena's lower lip trembled more as she struggled to hold back tears. "Will you call her and tell her I'm sorry?"

"Sorry for what?" Colby said, pushing the hair back from her face.

"Dunno," Nena said, tears starting to trickle down her face. "I'm sorry, Daddy, won't do it again! Please tell her …" With a big sob, Nena buried her face in Colby's shoulder.

Colby arms wrapped around her and pulled her close. He rocked her back and forth and murmured soothing sounds.

"Damn that woman," Alan growled.

Colby's face was pinched with pain but it was resolute. Alan shook his head tiredly. He recognized the look of a father determined to do what he thought was best for his child. _Heaven knows that many people doubted how we raised Charlie._ He hoped to God that Colby knew what he was doing, letting Jenny have a second chance.

When Nena's sobs slowed, Alan silently handed Colby a tissue box. Colby lifted Nena's chin and wiped her face.

"Nena-bear, you need to listen to me, okay?" Colby said gently but with conviction. "Mommy wasn't mad at you, she was mad at me. She thinks it's wrong that I have Charlie, that I live with a boywife."

"But why?" Nena asked, her voice rough with tears. "You love Charlie and Charlie loves you!"

"That's right, honey, but some people still think it's wrong, that Daddies can only have girlwives."

Nena clutched at his shirt. "Is she gonna make Charlie go away?" The fear in her face made Alan's heart clench with sympathy.

"No, never," Colby said firmly. "Mommy isn't going to make Charlie go away. Charlie is Daddy's, just like Nena is Daddy's."

"Mommy hurt Charlie?" Nena asked, as if she still couldn't believe it.

"Yes, honey," Colby said, wiping her face with more tissues. "But Mommy was scared. She didn't know Charlie, right? She thought that Charlie was a bad person who had taken you away and wouldn't give you back. She was trying to get Charlie to give you back."

"I love Charlie," Nena said. "Charlie isn't bad people!"

"No, of course not," Colby said and nodded thanks at Alan who offered a trash can for the tissues. "Charlie is good people, really good people."

Nena gave a deep, shuddering sigh. "I love you, Daddy."

"And I love you, Nena," Colby said, hugging her tightly.

Nena pulled back and rubbed her runny nose. Colby quickly put another tissue in her hand.

"Mommy doesn't like daddies," Nena said through the tissue.

Colby frowned. "What do you mean? Mommy doesn't like Daddy, doesn't like _me_, we've talked about that."

"Mommy doesn't like any daddies," Nena said quietly. "Lots of daddies like Mommy and one comes over for a while then no more and Mommy cries a lot and says that she's 'never gonna trust a man again.' But then another daddy comes and …" Nena shrugged.

Colby silently shook his head, his lips pressed together, and gave Nena another hug.

Alan could only imagine what Colby was feeling, because even as just a surrogate grandfather, it hurt Alan to see Nena already so exposed to the ways of the world. He cursed Jenny but at the same time had to marvel that Nena was so loving, that she'd happily become part of a family that involved just four 'daddies' and a grandpa. Nena was a smart little girl, and her mother must not be as much of a monster as she appeared. It was easy to forget how difficult it was to raise a child as a single parent.

Nena pulled out of Colby's hug and said, "Can I have juice?"

"Of course!" Colby said and took her hand. They walked into the kitchen.

Alan walked to the dining room where the chairs were glass-free. He sat down, rubbed his cheek and gazed tiredly at the remaining mess. He didn't envy Colby the sorts of decisions he was being forced to make. But one thing was certain. Colby and Charlie were going to give Nena a good example of a relationship, not the flawed ones that seemed to be all Jenny could manage. Though dating as a single mother with a toddler couldn't have been easy. At least it looked like Nena was well prepared for any attempts that Jenny might make to poison her against Colby and Charlie. She already knew that her mother had negative feelings towards men in general. _What a female role model to have …_

_Margaret,_ Alan thought with sudden sadness, _I wish you were here to show her what a real woman is like._

Through the kitchen door, Alan heard a light laugh from Nena. Kids were so resilient. But thank god that Nena had them now.


	14. Chapter 14 Anxiety managed

**Part 14 – Anxiety managed**

After finishing the basic cleanup, Colby quickly got ready to go to work. Don was a more understanding boss since Nena had come, but Colby tried not to push it. He straightened his tie in the mirror and looked over at Nena, who was sitting on the bed nearby. Nena had been clingy since Jenny left, then after being told that Jenny had caused the damage, she couldn't stand to be more than ten feet away from him. Colby knew exactly how she felt. Colby felt clingy too, wanting to be near both Nena and Charlie at all times. Charlie was out in the garage now, moving equations from broken chalkboards to paper. It had been hard for Colby to leave him there and come to get ready.

Colby smiled over at Nena. "Would you like to come with Daddy to work today?"

Nena perked up, her eyes shining. "Yes!"

"Okay," Colby said. "Go get your backpack and put some books and coloring books in it. I'll come and help you in a second."

Smiling for the first time this morning, Nena hopped off the bed and hurried to gather her things.

Colby hoped that Don was feeling particularly understanding today.

* * *

"Alan?" Colby called as he came down the stairs. Colby heard his voice and found him on the phone in the kitchen.

"Yes, I under—Yes, of course you must—" Alan rolled his eyes for Colby's benefit.

Colby found a piece of paper and wrote on it: _Nena is coming with me to work. We should be home normal time._ He handed the paper to Alan.

Alan read it and looked surprised, then gave him the thumbs-up sign. "Yes sir, I agree that preservation—But you must know—"

Colby left Alan to his phone call and met Nena coming down the stairs. He checked what she'd put in her backpack, then they went back upstairs and replaced half of the stuffed animals with crayons, colored pencils and the old laptop that Colby had found for her.

They put the backpack and Rocko into the car and went to tell Charlie goodbye. Colby resolutely ignored the memory of saying goodbye to Charlie the previous day, in an undamaged garage.

"Hey," Colby called. "I'm taking Nena into work today, okay?"

Charlie looked up. "Oh, you can do that?"

"Well," Colby said, "Not a lot, but I think my boss will cut me some slack today."

"Just have Nena call him 'Unka Don' and he melts," Charlie said with a grin, then stood up. "You know, Don has lots of old cases that he's been bugging me to look at. I could … come into the office too."

"You could?" Colby smiled widely. "That'd be great!" Only with both of them nearby was he going to be able to relax. While Charlie gathered up his things, chattering to Nena about where the three of them could go to lunch, Colby hoped fervently that this was a temporary need. He'd need to be able to cope with them being farther away. Much farther away, when it came to Nena. Colby pushed the anxiety aside for the day and held open Charlie's bag so he could pile his notebooks into it.

* * *

Colby's day was quite pleasant, oddly so for the day after a calamity which might have new calamities looming on the horizon. He was able to concentrate on his job, knowing that Nena and Charlie were safe and close by. Nena was the darling of everyone in the office and Colby was showered with offers for babysitting and play dates. The three of them went to lunch at a sandwich shop, then walked around the city park before going back to the office. Colby wouldn't want Nena and Charlie there every day, but this day, it was necessary.

"Charlie?" Colby said quietly as they lay in bed together that night. Colby wouldn't have minded Nena sleeping with them again, but he didn't want it to become a habit.

"Hmm?" Charlie said sleepily, his head on Colby's shoulder, his body tucked against Colby's.

"I need to tell you something. When Jenny was here, I told Don that I didn't want to press charges because I didn't want to drag Nena through court if I could help it."

"Right," Charlie said.

"Don wasn't too thrilled with that, as you can probably figure, and reminded me how she'd attacked you."

"Mm-hm."

"I told Don …" Colby hesitated and stroked his thumb down Charlie's arm. "I told Don that if I was forced to choose between you and Nena, that it would kill me, but I would choose Nena. Every time."

"I see," Charlie said quietly.

Colby waited, knowing that Charlie would need time to process this. He imagined math formulas spinning through Charlie's head, quantifying and evaluating. He had faith that Charlie wouldn't be mad at him for what he said, but would he understand?

Charlie was silent for such a long time that Colby drifted off to sleep.

"Okay," Charlie said at last.

"Wha?" Colby said groggily.

"Okay, I get it," Charlie said. "I understand that you'd have to pick your child over your lover."

Colby sighed. "I told him that it was only if I was forced to choose and that choosing would kill me."

"I know," Charlie said, reaching up to touch Colby's cheek. "It would kill me too, but it would be the right thing to do. Just when I think I can't love you more, you go and say something like this. I'm beginning to think that love might be the best demonstration of infinity that the human brain can understand."

Colby smiled in the dark. "I love you infinity, but I love Nena infinity plus one."

Charlie laughed. "Infinity plus one equals infinity."

"Prove it," Colby said wickedly.

Charlie snorted and poked Colby in the chest. "Only if you never want me coming back to bed."

"No, no," Colby said, "I like you just fine where you are."

"Good," Charlie said, then after a moment added, "I've gotten a taste now, you know."

"I certainly think you've gotten more than a taste of me," Colby grinned.

"I meant of fatherhood," Charlie said, his voice serious. "I'm understanding it a little now. The bond between parent and child … It's beyond rationality, isn't it?"

"It is," Colby said. "As Jenny fully demonstrated, rationality doesn't always enter into it."

"Yeah," Charlie said, "And it's strong, really strong. How do parents ever let their children go?"

"It's hard," Colby admitted, "But you gotta do it."

Charlie gave a long sigh. "I really do have great parents. Well, I mean, 'I did', in terms of my mom."

"Yes," Colby said firmly. "Your parents did a great job with you. I don't know that I could have managed a prodigy quite so well."

"Maybe for Father's Day," Charlie mused, "I should buy my Dad a car."

Colby chuckled. "Think about that in the morning, when you're a bit more … rational."

"'Kay," Charlie said and settled back against Colby's side.

Colby held Charlie tightly. _God forbid I ever have to choose._


	15. Chapter 15 Deal negotiated

**Part 15 – Deal negotiated**

Jenny called Colby the next morning, right in the middle of a staff meeting. Don immediately told Colby to go take care of it. Colby gave Jenny the address of a coffee shop downtown and said he'd be there in a half hour.

Colby sat at a back table, his hands cupped around a Mocha Latte, and waited. He didn't know where Jenny had called from but it was probably more than a half hour away. He tried very hard not to think, not to anticipate. He stared at his cooling coffee and listened to the tick of his watch.

About an hour later, Jenny arrived. The tinkle of the bell when the door opened was entirely too cheerful a sound for her entrance. Jenny nodded in his direction and went to get a coffee. Colby examined her as she waited for her order. He hadn't really looked at her in years, his eyes always for Nena whenever they'd met. Jenny was tan, her blond hair still as golden. She was a little too thin, though, with tired lines around her eyes. It can't have been easy to raise a child by herself, though God knows Colby would have been more involved if she'd just let him.

Jenny turned then and met his eyes, doing some assessing of her own. Whatever she saw, it didn't please her and the lines around her mouth tightened. Colby sipped at his cold latte. Jenny walked over, pulled out a chair and sat.

"Jenny," Colby said evenly.

"Colby," she responded, just as neutrally.

"Shall we skip the small talk?" Colby asked.

"Please."

"Before you knew about my current living situation, you proposed a shared custody arrangement of trading off weeks for Nena. Does that still stand?"

"Do I have a choice?" she asked bitterly.

"Yes," Colby said tiredly, "You have a choice. The choice you need to make is whether you want to work this out between the two of us or whether you want to go to court."

Jenny frowned and stared at her coffee.

"Going to court is not what Nena needs," Colby said.

"I know," she snapped, "Don't you dare pretend to know what she needs better than I do!"

Colby waited.

"Okay," Jenny said with a twist of her lips. "Trade off weeks."

"Handover on Monday?"

She nodded. "Somewhere neutral. Her school, when she starts going."

"Yes," his voice went hard. "You are not going to come to the house again."

Shuddering, she said, "Happily."

"Or ever come anywhere near Charlie."

Her lip curled in distaste but she asked stiffly, "Was … _he_ hurt?"

"Not badly," Colby said sharply, "But more than enough for a restraining order."

"That won't be necessary. I have no desire to see your boyfriend again." The word 'boyfriend' was a swear word coming from Jenny's mouth.

Colby nodded. "But I'm going to insist that you get some counseling. I don't want that anger turned on Nena."

Jenny's face went white and her hands clenched around her cup. "And I'm gonna insist that Nena sees a counselor herself, one trained to uncover signs of sexual abuse."

Bile rose into Colby's throat and the two of them locked eyes for a long tense moment. Colby almost willed her to attack him, show her temper. He'd have Nena all to himself with the poisonous woman far away. Colby forced himself to recall the memory of Nena's joy at seeing her mother again, before Nena had figured out something was wrong.

Colby willed his jaw to relax. "I think counseling for Nena is a great idea. I have nothing to hide and it'll help her deal with this situation."

Jenny gave a short nod.

"Now," Colby said, his voice flat with the effort of keeping calm, "I can get an appointment with a lawyer today. It's Charlie's father's lawyer."

"Oh, lovely," she said snidely, "the lawyer for that filthy family. I'm really gonna get a fair deal there."

Colby growled, "Do _you_ know any lawyers in town? I don't. Not unless you want one who's more used to criminal cases." Colby swallowed what he wanted to add -- _Might be more appropriate in this situation._

Jenny's mouth worked then she said, "Okay. Call him."

Before she could change her mind, Colby pulled out his phone and called Alan. Alan quickly turned around and called his lawyer. Pulling in a lifetime of favors, Alan was able to get an appointment right away for Colby and Jenny. Alan called Colby back with the address and Colby and Jenny agreed to meet there in an hour.

* * *

Three hours later, Colby walked out of the lawyer's office, feeling drained but satisfied. He took out his phone and dialed Charlie.

"Hey," he said tiredly.

"How'd it go?" Charlie asked.

"About as well as I could hope for."

"Hmm, not sure I like the sound of that. Were you able to—"

"Charlie, do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Get everyone together at the house so I only have to go over this once?" _So I only have to defend my decisions once._

Charlie paused. "Okay. But just tell me … Did you agree to move with Nena somewhere else, away from me?"

"No!" Colby said, shocked.

Charlie sighed in relief. "Good, I thought maybe you'd do that so you could—"

"I'm not leaving you, silly," Colby said firmly.

"Good." Another relieved sigh.

"I'm never gonna leave you," Colby said, for what felt like the fiftieth time just this week, and smiled wryly to himself. _Megan would say that Charlie had 'a serious abandonment complex.'_ But Charlie didn't really need another label and Colby usually didn't mind giving regular reassurance. "I'm never gonna leave you," Colby repeated. "Now get everybody at the house?"

"You got it," Charlie said.

* * *

It was a little daunting to walk in the front door of the house and see seven expectant faces. Well, six expectant ones and one small, anxious one.

"C'mere," Colby said to Nena. Nena jumped out of Alan's lap and came racing to him. He picked her up and swung her around. "It all gets better from here, Nena-bear," Colby said with a smile. "Some stability and structure would be good, eh?"

Nena didn't answer, just hugged Colby's neck.

Colby shifted Nena to one arm and addressed the room. "So the crux of the deal is we're gonna trade weeks for Nena."

No one looked happy, but this is what they all had expected.

Colby continued, "The handoff is gonna take place on Monday. When Nena starts school, this'll be easy – one of us will drop her off in the morning and the other pick her up. Until then, or in the summer, the handoff will take place somewhere neutral." Colby looked at Charlie. "Jenny is not to ever come to the house or have contact with Charlie or anyone else but me except in an emergency. Then she has a list of contact information, starting with Don," he nodded towards Don, "and going down the list. Charlie's on the list but only as last resort."

Charlie looked relieved. Colby believed that Charlie could have managed dealing with Jenny, now that he was forewarned, but it was better just to keep them far from each other.

Will offered Colby a chair and Colby sat down with Nena on his lap. Colby wrapped his arms around Nena and leaned his head on her shoulder. "I – We get Thanksgiving Day and Jenny the rest of the weekend. We're splitting Christmas Day."

Alan smiled and Colby guessed he was already thinking about Christmas Day with Nena.

Colby continued his recitation, "So, we can negotiate for additional time with Nena or if we need to not get her one week, mostly the other way though. I wanted to make sure that if Jenny felt like some extended time to herself, that Nena came to stay with us.

"Jenny's gonna get an apartment in the same school district as this house, so the school won't be a problem when Nena starts. Also, Nena isn't to be taken out of the state without the other parent being informed."

Taking a deep breath, Colby plowed on. He knew that this next bit would not go over well. _Good part first._ "So Jenny's agreed to get counseling and Anger Management stuff. Dunno if it'll help her, but I can hope." He added wryly, "Regardless, she'll be yelling at someone other than me or Charlie about how horrid gays are.

"Jenny is supposed to let me know the counselor's name and I have the right to call the counselor and ask general questions, such as 'Do you think she would hurt Nena?' If the counselor thinks something bad like that, I can 're-open' the deal."

Everyone nodded agreement, some with more emphasis than others.

Colby grimaced. "Nena's also going to get counseling." He hesitated.

Megan spoke up, "I think that's a wonderful idea. This whole thing has to be extremely confusing and frightening for her. Nip any future problems in the bud."

"I agree, but the main reason that Jenny wants it is …" Colby covered Nena's ears. "The main reason is that Jenny is totally convinced that we're molesting Nena."

"What?" Don gasped.

Will growled and Charlie looked nauseous.

"Crazy bitch," David mumbled.

Colby sighed. "Jenny thinks a counselor can find this out and then she can take Nena away from us for good."

Megan said thoughtfully, "I can only wonder what happened to Jenny that she so strongly associates gay men with child abuse."

"Uh-oh," Alan said anxiously, "Sounds like one of those 'recovered' memory things, where someone keeps asking you over and over if you were abused as a child until you start to believe it yourself."

"Yeah," Colby said to Alan, "I worry about that too. But this isn't some adult thinking way back, this is a child at the time of the supposed abuse."

When no one else looked like they were going to say anything about the issue, Colby took his hands from Nena's ears. Nena turned and frowned at him and he gave her an apologetic smile. "Icky adult talk," he said.

"So," Colby said in summation, "There are some strong warnings in the document about failure to follow any of these rules, for either of us. I insisted on explicitly stating that I reserved the right to sue for full custody or restraining orders, depending on the infraction."

"Infraction," Don snorted. "That's legal language for 'going berserk again.'"

Colby shrugged. He'd done what he could, and only time would tell how it worked out. "And before you guys give me any more grief on this," he said quietly. "Remember that before she came to LA, I was lucky to see Nena for two weeks a year, so this is a huge step forward."

That stopped everyone from objecting, at least for the moment.

"So, umm," Megan asked Alan. "Which elementary school district are you in again? Are there apartments that she can rent within the boundaries of it? 'Cause that could be a problem."

Alan frowned thoughtfully and began to answer her. The others turned to discussion of the basic logistics of the custody handoff.

Colby let them talk, knowing he had one more necessary conversation before the long day of talking was done. He turned Nena around so that she was sitting backwards on his lap and he could look her in the face. "Nena, honey, how much of that did you catch?"

"Mommy on Mondays."

"Not quite. On Monday, you'll go spend a week with Mommy, and then the next Monday, you'll come and spend a week with Daddy."

"And Charlie and Grannpa Alan?"

"And Charlie and Grandpa Alan," Colby confirmed. "It'll be every other week, and you need to call me if Mommy takes you for a long trip out of town."

Nena nodded slowly. "Mommy still mad at Daddy?"

"Yes, honey, Mommy will probably always be mad at me." He cupped her cheek. "But Mommy loves you and Daddy loves you. It doesn't matter that me and Mommy don't love each other, because we both love you, okay?"

"'Kay," Nena said. She didn't look entirely convinced. It was going to take a while for everyone to get used to this arrangement.

"So, Nena-bear," Colby said, changing the subject with determination. "How about you pick what we do for supper?"

Diverted, Nena smiled and pointed to Will nearby. "Can Unka Will cook some kor-ee-un again?"

Colby looked at Will. "Do you mind?"

Will grinned. "Funny noodles, coming up."

* * *

So things that day had gone as well as Colby could have asked, but it was going to be gut-wrenching handing Nena over on the next Monday. He did believe what he'd told Nena when he'd first come home – that it was all going to get better from here. And it was right for Nena, that's what mattered.

Still, that night, Colby asked Charlie if he'd mind sharing the bed with Nena again. Colby slept with his arm around Nena and Charlie pressed against his back. His world had shifted, again, but he had the two people he loved most there with him. And even when they weren't there, he knew that they were still his.


	16. Chapter 16 Birthday celebrated

**Part 16 – Birthday celebrated**

The Saturday two weeks after Jenny's return was Nena's fifth birthday. Colby had gotten so used to thinking of Nena as five that it was easy to forget that she wasn't quite.

They'd been planning the birthday party for weeks, as if five years of missed birthdays could be made up in one go. Colby was relieved that he had Nena this weekend and didn't have to fight Jenny for her. It was going to be a constant tug of war, but Colby would try hard to make sure that Nena didn't feel like just a prize to be won. He'd had far too much of that between his own parents. Colby wondered briefly if Jenny was planning on giving Nena a party herself then dismissed the subject from his mind. Nothing was going to mess up this day.

Saturday was clear and sunny and smog-free, a gorgeous LA day. _This is why I moved to LA,_ Colby thought. He looked over at Charlie. _And a darn good thing too._

Charlie was eyeing the streamers, probably determining the geometry of their curves. Colby smiled and looked around. The backyard of the house had been plastered with streamers and balloons, including letter balloons that spelled out 'NENA.' A piñata in the shape of a big number five hung from a nearby tree limb.

They'd invited some parents and kids from the neighborhood, kids that Nena had enjoyed playing with at the local park. Family, of course, was there, including Monster, Megan and David. Amita had also come, showing off a new boyfriend almost defiantly.

The hum of adult conversation was intermixed with the shrieks of playing children. Everyone was wearing party hats, except Nena, who was wearing a silver plastic crown. Even Monster had a hat, though it was quickly sliding down his neck.

Alan was manning the grill and the food table was heavy with Nena's food choices –hamburgers, veggie burgers, chicken-apple sausages, chips, carrot sticks and cheese curls.

Colby turned back to his conversations with the other parents. He'd cautiously introduced Charlie as his boyfriend, but got little worse than curious looks. He gratefully moved on to the subject of the local elementary school, since some of the parents already had older kids going there. Charlie quizzed them about the school's science and math curriculum. Colby couldn't help a smidge of pride as he asked about the possibility of an accelerated reading program. Will told Colby with a smile that Nena would end up going to the high school that had been Will's big rival school growing up, so it was good that he had many years to get used to rooting for the other side.

Food eaten, though the table still had enough left to know that they'd be eating hamburgers and sausages for a week, the kids began to clamor for the piñata. Colby got out a baseball bat and a blindfold then set Nena up for the first crack.

Nena, then the other kids, gave the piñata a number of good whacks, but it refused to open up. A few pieces of candy flew out, which was plenty to entertain Monster, but not enough for the kids.

"Unka Don!" Nena called, "Need you!"

Don grinned and came over.

"Keep it in the yard!" Charlie said quickly.

"Can't say I've ever heard that when going to the plate," Don laughed. He took the bat and wound up. He smacked the piñata smartly, showering the waiting kids with candy. He flipped the bat in triumph.

After the piñata had been thoroughly cleaned out, it was time for cake. Alan brought out a huge flat cake with one of those edible photos on top. It was a picture of Nena holding up five fingers. Five twisty candles glittered on the cake.

The group sang an off-key but enthusiastic 'Happy Birthday', then Nena squeezed her eyes shut, said something under her breath, and blew out the candles.

Applause then Nena carefully cut herself the first piece of cake. She insisted on transferring the cake to a plate and it ended up sideways, but she didn't seem to mind. Alan traded her knife for a fork and a bowl of strawberry ice cream. Ignoring the chairs, Nena sat down in the grass and dug in happily. Colby got his own piece and sat down next to her.

"What did you wish for?" Colby asked.

"Daddy," she said in admonition, "I can't tell you."

"Oh right," Colby smiled and turned to his own plate. Nena had chosen a chocolate cake with vanilla icing and Colby had been served a piece with a corner of photo-Nena's sleeve.

"One would think," Charlie said, sitting on the other side of Colby, "That by revealing your wish to those around you, it would be more likely to happen."

"Uh-uh," Nena said earnestly, "The Birthday Pixie will know if you tell."

"'Birthday Pixie'?" Colby asked.

"Yeah, she lives in a tree made up of birthday candles and listens for wishes then waits to see if you're gonna tell. If you don't tell anybody in seventeen days, she gives you your wish."

Colby nodded thoughtfully. "Interesting. I'll have to ask you in eighteen days what you wished for, then."

"Oh, you'll know," Nena grinned.

Colby chuckled.

"That sounds ominous," Charlie murmured.

Colby shrugged. He'd wished for some pretty extravagant things himself when he was a kid, but, then again, he hadn't known about the seventeen day waiting period. "Didn't you wish on your candles when you were a kid?" he asked Charlie.

"I think that I was more interested in how many prime-number birthdays I would have."

Colby laughed and gave Charlie a quick one-armed hug.

Once everyone had enjoyed their cake and ice cream – and Monster had been shooed off the table when he demonstrated an inexplicable taste for strawberry ice cream – Nena was anxious to turn to the mountain of presents waiting for her. Chairs were placed around the small table that groaned under the load of presents, and Nena began. Colby sat next to her, ready to write down who had given what to her.

Alan's gifts were first. Colby had talked Alan out of giving her a pony, but it had been a close thing. Instead, Alan had gone for quantity – clothing from a fluffy pink dress to a green T-shirt with a rainbow, stuffed animals, a boxed set of Harry Potter books and another of The Chronicles of Narnia, educational toys, puzzles, and art supplies.

Colby bit his tongue and let Alan enjoy Nena's joy at opening each new thing. When she was done with the packages from Alan, Colby leaned over and said to Nena, "Grandpa Alan has been saving up for five years to get you so much." Nena looked sufficiently awed. This was a special occasion, but Colby was determined to make sure the mega-gifting wasn't a habit.

Nena opened up Charlie's present and stared at the large metal and glass object.

"It's a Meade 10 Inch Dobsonian Reflector Telescope," Charlie explained. "It's for looking at stars at night."

Nena looked at the lens dubiously.

"Tonight we'll look at your birthday star."

Nena's eyes lit up. "I got a star?"

"Yeah, it's six light years away, which means the light we see from it today started off from the star just a little while before you were born. It's called NS 1757+0441, but also called Barnard's Star."

"Why isn't it called Nena's Star?"

Charlie grinned. "It is now. We can also look really close at the moon."

Nena smiled, turning the heavy telescope over in her hands. "Can we see Larry-in-space too?"

Charlie looked at Megan.

Megan smiled sadly. "Probably not tonight, but tomorrow or the day after." She shook herself and said, "Open my present next."

Megan had gotten a certificate for a day-long spa trip for her and Nena. "It's terribly girly, I know, but Nena needs something to offset all the testosterone she's steeped in around here."

"Megan, what's tes-tos-ter-own?"

"That's something in boys' blood that makes them hairy and have deep voices and get big muscles."

"Oh," Nena said thoughtfully. "Charlie needs more."

Everyone around her but Charlie burst out laughing.

Charlie protested, "I have lots of hair!" which just made everyone laugh harder. Nena grinned, obviously unsure why it was funny but enjoying that people were laughing at her joke.

Colby leaned over and whispered in Charlie's ear, "I don't think you need any more testosterone. I have a hard enough time keeping up with your libido as it is."

Charlie flushed and gave him a pleased smile.

Nena reached for the next present from the pile. _Gonna have to get her a bigger toy box,_ Colby thought wryly.

From her kid friends and their parents, Nena got books and toys and dolls.

David got her a baseball cap and matching T-shirt that said 'FBI' then had to defend himself from Alan's disapproving looks.

A note from Larry said, "Best wishes on the anniversary of the commencement of your yearly migration around the sun."

Don and Will got her a 'sports set,' which contained a football, a volleyball, a basketball, a small baseball mitt, a soccer ball, a tennis racket, in-line skates, and a net which could be configured for volleyball, soccer, tennis and even water polo. Luckily, it also came with a container to keep everything in.

Finally the only thing left was Colby's present - a small box which had been missed among the bigger packages.

Colby had thought a lot about what to get her. He couldn't match Alan for quantity or Charlie for price. Instead, he'd gotten an oval locket on a slender but sturdy chain. The gold locket was etched with delicate engraving and held two tiny pictures, one of Nena and one of Colby.

Nena leaned over and gave him a hug. "Thank you, Daddy," she said softly, and, maybe it was just his imagination, but Colby thought she was saying thank you for more than just the locket. She held up the necklace and Colby clasped it around her neck. She hugged him again then dashed off to invent a game that used all of her new sports equipment at once. Everyone else got up slowly and wandered off to socialize or get more cake or get a tour of the house or scour the grass for missed candies.

Charlie sat down next to Colby and smiled at him. "Happy, Cole?"

"Yeah," Colby said with a voice thick with emotion. He took Charlie's hand in his own. "I know it can't always be this good, that it won't always be ice cream and friends and smiles, but when it's good, it's damn good."

Charlie squeezed Colby's hand. "It's Larry that worries about untwinnable moments," he said. "I've had far too many of them."

Colby laughed. "Even _I_ know that doesn't make any sense."

Charlie shrugged. "I'm learning to deal with things that don't make any sense."

"Oh, you are?"

"Well, with you around, I've kinda been forced to," Charlie said with a smile.

Colby lifted his eyebrows. "I think I've just been insulted."

"Just _think _you've been? I'll have to try harder."

Colby laughed and leaned back in his chair, his fingers still entwined with Charlie's. Colby's eyes wandered the yard, picking out moments. Alan was standing with the parents and pointing to the frame of an upper story window, probably explaining its historical and architectural significance. Megan was eating a second piece of cake and talking with Amita and her Physics-Department boyfriend. David, Will, and Don were trying to figure out the complicated multi-use sports' net. Colby had no idea what shape they were attempting to form with it, but it wasn't cooperating. Monster was batting around some stray wrapping paper. Nena was racing around the yard, giggly with sugar and birthday joy, a tennis racket in one hand and a baseball mitt on the other.

Like he was reading Colby's thoughts, Charlie said quietly, "All these years that my Dad has been bugging me about starting a family. Who would've thought that a family would drop, fully formed, right into my lap?"

"Yeah," Colby agreed with a sense of wonder. "Who would have thought?"

Then their moment of contemplation was interrupted by Will asking where he could find needle-nosed pliers, Megan saying mildly that Monster was once again nose-deep in the strawberry ice cream, and Nena demanding that they play her game of Everythingball.

"Hey, Don," Colby called. "Get your furball out of the ice cream!"

Don looked up from his struggle with the net and yelled, "Monster!"

Monster sauntered off the table and began cleaning the ice cream from his whiskers.

Charlie stood up to show Will where the toolbox was, and Colby warned Will, "Don't let him actually touch any tools."

Will laughed and Charlie grumbled good-naturedly.

"Okay, Birthday Girl," Colby said to Nena, "How do you play Everythingball?"

With a big smile, Colby listened to Nena's instructions on hitting a soccer ball with a tennis racket and getting it past the kid wearing the baseball mitt and the next kid bouncing the basketball, and into the empty telescope box perched precariously on the edge of the Koi pond, while avoiding getting tackled by the kid with the football or the kid with inline skates on his hands.

Colby took the tennis racket and prepared to give it his best shot.

-The End-

_A/N: This story came out a lot longer than I anticipated, but this is the last piece. Of course, there will be more Nena stories in the future, since she's so much fun!_


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